From Here On
by Lou98
Summary: Katniss and Peeta have re-started their relationship, follow them through their journey together as they begin to think of ideas of marriage and starting a family.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Hey Guys, this is my first story so i hope you enjoy it and please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, that belongs to Suzanne Collins.**

Chapter 1 Peeta's P.O.V.

"Real." She had said it, the word I had been longing her to say since we were 5. I look at her now, I look deep into her eyes and I see everything, I see all of my memories of her normal and hijacked and I just can't help wanting to stay like this forever feeling this strong love for her. "So what happens now?" she asks casually. For a moment I am confused what does she mean? But then I realise she wants me to stay here, with her. "Well, I could move in?" as soon as the words leave my mouth I feel anxious, what if I got the wrong end of the stick? However I am rewarded with one of Katniss' beautiful smiles as she says "You spend most of your time here anyways!" and then she laughs, a real laugh, I haven't heard her laugh like that for ages. Then she leans in for a kiss.

We are disturbed by a repeated banging on our front door, and then we hear Haymitch hollering at us to open the door. Katniss sighs and slowly she gets up to open the door, and I quickly follow her down the stairs. "Do you have any liquor?" Haymitch slurs, "Why would we have any liquor Haymitch?" Katniss replies irritably. "You said we, not I we, is there something you're not telling me sweetheart?" Haymitch asked intriqued now. "Well, umm yes actually Haymitch…" Katniss starts "Katniss and I have decided to move in together." I finish for her; she always said I was better with words than her. Haymitch begins to laugh, really loud "well it's about time!" he finally matters to splutter out after his laughing fit. I can feel Katniss become very tense beside me; her cheeks have also become a very light shade of pink. Thankfully Haymitch turns to leave and I can see the relief in katniss' eyes, but before he walks out the door, he turns to us and says "Now you two kids have fun." he then winks at me and walks out.

Katniss storms into the living room and, starts pacing back and forth ranting about Haymitch. While she does that I just stare at her, watching her petite body pace angrily, her soft brunet hair shine around her shoulders, her grey seam eyes dart around the room. Suddenly she looks up at and sees me staring "What?" she asks in a softer tone than she had been using. "Nothing," I reply "I was just admiring your beauty." I say with a smile. She just rolls her eyes and goes to turn on the T.V. which is odd because usually her chosen form of entertainment is reading. However I soon realise what she is doing as she turns on the Panem News channel. Katniss worries a lot about things returning to the way they were, and everytime something good happens to her, it almost always gets taken away from her. So because Katniss and I were finally happy together she was checking to make sure nothing would jeopardise that. When she was satisfied that nothing out of the ordinary was happening she turned to the cooking channel as she knew I often like to watch that.

I sat down next to her on the sofa and she came closer and snuggled into me, it felt nice, I had almost forgotten how nice it was to have her in my arms. However she does find the cookery shows very boring and she began to fidget and so I suggested she went to phone Effie and her Mother and tell them about us moving in together. Her face floods with relief and she gives me a light peck on the check and she silently moves out of the room to fetch the phone.

Katniss' P.O.V.

As much as I love Peeta, I cannot stand his cooking shows. So I am extremely grateful when he suggests I call my Mum and Effie. I call my Mum first, our relationship hasn't always been the best but we have been trying to figure stuff out, and losing Prim has made our relationship a lot stronger. She told me that she was happy Peeta was back to normal and that we were able to love each other again. Effie on the other hand was more ecstatic! "WOW! This is soo exciting, when is the wedding?" she practically shouts down the phone at me. "What Effie, there is no wedding, we are just living together." I reply "What? You can't just live together? She exclaims "Effie calm down, I am sure one day Peeta and I will get married but not now, not yet." I reply calmly "Okay, well I am happy for you two, I will come down to District 12 soon, ta ta for now lovie." And with that she was gone. I turn round to go ask Peeta what he wants for dinner when I am surprised by his presence in the Door way.

He was smiling, I walk up to him and put my arms around him, I then whisper in his ear "How long have you been listening?" "Long enough to hear you say we will be married someday." I start to giggle "Ahh so that's why you're smiling, but if you were listening carefully, you would have heard me also say that we wouldn't be married for a while." "I know," he says with a chuckle "But it's nice to know that you think about these things." And then he kisses me and I forget everything I just hug him closer. When we finally break apart he says he'll cook dinner to celebrate our first night living together. There isn't much in my- I mean our cupboards but he still manages to cook up something delicious. After dinner we snuggle together on the sofa for an hour or two, he reads I just sit there happy to be in his arms.

I decide to go up to bed and Peeta says he will be up in a minuet, I go into the bathroom strip off and have a nice, hot shower. I dry off and slip into my pyjamas putting my clothes from the day in the hamper as I walk back into our room. Peeta is already there, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for me. His hair looks damp which means he must have used the bathroom on the landing whilst I was in the bathroom off our bedroom. He sees me and smiles, I climb into bed and he slides in next to me he puts a protective arm around me and hugs me close. He whispers how much he loves me into my ear and slowly I drift off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading Chapter 1, Here is Chapter 2 Please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games **

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**Chapter 2: Katniss' P.O.V.**

My eye lids flutter open and for the first time, in what seems like forever I haven't had any nightmares. I expect to find Peeta's arms around me, but I am alone in the bed. However I know he is here because I can smell the sweet scent of blueberry pancakes wafting up the stairs from the kitchen. I pull a sweater over my pyjama top and slowly trot downstairs. I sit at the little round table in our kitchen and I just watch him cook.

"Today I thought maybe we could move all my stuff over?" Peeta asks as he hands me a plate full of the delicious smelling pancakes. I smile and nod my head still staring at him, he looks so at home here, as if nothing has happened, I sometimes wish I was as good as him at pretending things are okay when they're not. Everything is perfect now, but I have always been jealous of Peeta's way with words and his calmness.

"What are you thinking about?" Peeta asks, "You." I reply with a smile, he smiles too. He then kisses me on the top of the head and heads out the front door, I presume to start packing up his stuff.

Slowly I rise from the chair and I make my way upstairs. I wash my hair and braid it in two plaits like prim used to, just to be different… for today. I pull on a plain orange T-shirt and a hoodie Peeta left here a few days ago, I slip into some jeans and then I head out the door to find Peeta. I find him in the back bedroom, otherwise known as his art room, packing his paints and canvases into boxes. He sees me come into the room and he smiles.

"I like your hair, it's a nice change." "Thank you," I know he is thinking I look like prim but he doesn't say anything.

"I thought I might start to pack up your clothes?" I suggest, "Sure," he says "you know where they are, here take some boxes." He passes me some boxes and kisses me lightly on lips before I leave to pack up his clothes. I start going through his chest of drawers. I pack up his socks, underwear, T-shirts and sweats. I then move onto his wardrobe and I begin packing his shirts, jeans and jackets into another box. Finally I put his shoes into another box; I then sit back onto his bed and a look around the room, properly for the first time. I notice a folder, at the bottom of his wardrobe that I must have missed when I was clearing it. I walk over and pick it up, in the folder there are sketches of me mainly, but one in particular catches my eye. It's of Prim, her hair is like mine today and she is wearing her favourite light orange dress, and she is holding buttercup.

I Jump as I feel Peeta's arms snake around my waist, he tenses up as he sees the picture I'm looking at, at first I think he is having one of his moments but then relaxes. Then we just stand there, me in his arms and after several moments of silence I finally break it by softly whispering "I miss her so much."

"I know you do," Peeta says in a similar soft tone "But you know she is always here with you, she is looking over you now, and I know she would be very proud of you katniss." I know he is right and somehow I feel closer to Prim than I ever did before and I think I have finally found closure over Prims untimely death. However there will still be a small part of me that will always blame me for Prims death. If I had never had pulled out those berries, the chances are the rebellion would have never happened and Prim would still be here.

**Peeta's P.O.V.**

I remove my arms from Katniss' waist and I start to take some boxes over to my new home. She follows me out with some more boxes, I notice she had placed the folder with the sketches in on top of the box she is carrying, "you know, if you really like that sketch of Prim we could frame it?" I say softly, I don't want her to feel pressured; I'm scared that my suggestion may be too much, what if seeing the sketch everyday makes her feel worse?

"I would really like that!" she says with a bright smile, to my surprise. We Finish taking over the boxes and unpacking around noon. I didn't have much stuff in the first place, we turned the attic into my new art room, and we place my clothes alongside katniss' clothes in the wardrobe and chest of drawers.

After I suggest we walk into town to get some food, seen as I used most of the remaining supplies we had last night and this morning. I take her hand as we walk out of lane of the Victors Village and head towards the town. When we are about half way there we pass Haymitch, he is carrying a large box filled to the brim with liquor bottles. Haymitch sees me staring and he gruffly states "The train from the Captial just came in." I nod in repose and we carry on walking. The Next familiar face we pass is Greasy Sae,

"Look at you two, Haymitch said you had finally moved in together, I told him it was only a matter of time!" Sae says with a hint of smugness. Katniss giggles and her cheeks blush, and I am slightly taken aback as Katniss always never giggles, it is very out of character.

"Yes sae its official we have moved in together." Katniss manages to say through her giggles. Sae nods her goodbye and Katniss and I continue walking, we arrive in what used to be the square, and head to the temporary grocery store. Whilst District 12 is being re-built we have temporary shops. So far the construction teams have re-built a small elementary school, middle school and a high school so that children can return to district 12. They have also re-built a Hospital and some houses where the seam used to be. They are half way through building a new, grocery store, butchers, bakery, a small clothing store for the basics and a small apothecary store. I was approached to run the new bakery and I decided I would, it will be hard at first I know. All of the reminders of my family and past life but I think it will be worth it in the long run, for me and for Katniss.

I know Katniss doesn't like to spend a lot of time in the town, too many memories of what our life used to be like, so I decide to do a big shop so we won't have to come into town again for a while. However, she seemed excited to being doing our first shop together, she marched straight into the store and began to mutter to herself about the quantity of what we needed. I just followed her around with the cart, picking up a few items I needed, that Katniss didn't think to put in. We pass the baby isle and although she claims she never wants children, I see something in her eyes that suggests otherwise. I mean we are too young for children now; we are only 18, but one day, just like I think we will get married, I think we will also have children.

She sees me staring and she quickly turns away, "I think that's everything." she says "Not everything." I reply, as I make my way over to the little desk that stands by the entrance of the store. The store stocks basic stuff but sometimes you may need something that the store doesn't stock, so you can order it in from the Capitol. The store doesn't stock photo frames so I decided I would order one now so it would be here on the next train from the Capitol. As I am walking back to where katniss is standing she asks "What did you order, we just got everything we need?" "I ordered a frame for the sketch of Prim." I reply, "Oh Peeta, thank you, this means we can put it up as soon as the next train comes in!" she says gleefully, "Your very welcome Miss Everdeen." I never expected something as small as this to make her so happy. Maybe she has finally come to terms with Prim's death? I take some bags from katniss, so she doesn't have to carry as much and she kisses me lightly on the cheek, she puts her free arm around my waist and we head off towards the Victors Village.

The walk home takes longer, as we have the shopping bags weighing us down. When we get back to the victors village we see Effie sitting on our front porch. She is wearing the typical Capitol fashions, bright colours. Her hair is a shade of turquoise blue, it matches her darker blue skirt and jacket. She is surrounded by 3 rather large suitcases and 1 very large trunk. She sees us and she awkwardly stands up, her skirt restricting her movements, then she starts to run towards us, as well as she can run in 5 inch heels.

"Katniss, Peeta!" She exclaims, in her silly Capitol accent.

"Effie what are you doing here?" I ask in shock,

"Well I thought… I thought I could move into Peeta's old house?"

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**I Hope you Guys liked the ending, I really love Effie and so i thought it would be nice if she came back to District 12 :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello Guys, Here is chapter 3, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 3 Katniss' P.O.V.

"You want to what?" I ask still a tad in shock.

"I would like to move to District 12, and seen as you and Peeta are living together, I thought maybe I could move into his old house." Effie answers my question in reassuring tone; I think she can sense my confusion.

"But Effie why do you want to move to District 12, your home is the Capitol, you love it there!" Peeta asks.

"Well, you see, I do love the Capitol and it has become so much better now the new government has taken over but, there are too many bad memories of what happened to me during the rebellion and I also want to be closer to you two, so please, please can I move into your old home Peeta?" Effie's voice has a tone of desperation to it. Peeta looks at me and I can tell straight away just by looking in his eyes that he wants to let Effie stay. I give him a slight nod to show that I agree.

"Effie of course you can move into my old house." Peeta says a smile playing on his lips; he always loved doing things to make other people happy.

"Really…?" Effie asks, Peeta and I both nod "Oh, thank you thank you!" Effie shrikes in delight and she pulls us both in for a hug.

We spend the rest of the afternoon, helping Effie un-pack her 3 very large suitcases, and 1 extremely large trunk. Around 6 just when we are finishing up Haymitch staggers in, "What is she doing here?" He slurs, "Nice to see you too Haymitch, I have decided to move to District 12, for a new start." Effie says as calmly as she can.

"Does this mean she'll be living here forever?" Haymitch stammers

"Yes it does Haymitch, and seen as I will be living here from now on, I have decided to make it my mission to help Katniss and Peeta live a happy normal life and I have also made it my mission to get you get sober, I believe you could be an almost likeable person when you are not under the influence of alcohol!" Effie is nearly shouting now.

"Good luck with that." Haymitch retorts, as he turns to leave he trips over his own feet and falls over knocking himself out.

"Oh my, I suppose we better take him home and put him to bed." Effie says, her motherly nature coming through, all the rage she felt before is instantly gone at the sight of a helpless, unconscious Haymitch.

"Don't worry Effie, Peeta and I can do it, this isn't the first time it has happened." I say softly to reassure her everything will be okay.

"Yes Effie you stay here, we'll take care of him, don't worry about a thing" Peeta adds.

Peeta grabs one of Haymitch's arms I take the other and we haul him up, we then carry him back to his house, and we place him in bed. Peeta leaves a little note explaining how he got there and then we leave. We decide to go back to our house rather than going to back to Effie. By this time it is about 7 and neither I nor Peeta is particularly hungry for a big meal, so we just have some slices of toast in front of the TV. We don't usually watch TV but Plutarch's new singing show is on, so we thought we might see what he has been doing since we last saw him. I was just about to moan to Peeta about the amount of ad breaks this show had when one of them an comerical message from the new government catches my eye;

"Coming soon to all Districts in Panem, President Paylor and her Government have come to a decision that all citizens in Panem aged 16 and older now have the right to learn and hold a licence to drive a motor vehicle. Thank you for watching this message."

I look over at Peeta, he looks up from the book he was flicking through, he notices the look in my eyes and he sighs "You can't be serious Katniss, why would you want to know how to drive?" Peeta asks Panic creeping into his voice.

"Because Peeta, I really want to know how, we have the money, and we've done so much and been through so much, please just let me do this, we can learn together!" I jut out my bottom lip and open my eyes as wide as I can in an attempt to look so cute he can't possibly say no. I can see its working, his hard expression weakens and her sighs,

"All right then," He says "But you have to promise my you'll be very careful, I don't want you to get hurt in an accident!" I Promise him I'll be careful and I sink back into his arms, we finish watching Plutarch's absurd programme and I decide to go up to bed.

I undo the plaits, and brush out the waves that they created. I then undress and place my dirty clothes in the hamper in the bathroom, I then put on a one of Peeta's T-shirts and a pair of check pyjama bottoms. Peeta's T-shirts are much more comfortable to sleep in than my own tighter fitting pyjama tops. I get into bed and try to sleep but without Peeta beside me I find it hard to drift off so I decide to read until he comes up. I am just finishing the second chapter when I hear Peeta making his way up the stairs,

"I thought you would be asleep." he says as he changes into his pyjamas.

"I tried but I couldn't sleep without you here." I say,

"You should have come and got me, I would've have come up." he says sliding in beside me.

"I know but you were so engrossed in your book, I didn't want to disturb you." I say through a yawn.

"Oh Katniss you are silly." He says, I was about to protest but he silences my protest with a kiss. I sigh, but I don't try to push him away. He pulls away and turns over to turn off the light, when her turns back I snuggle in his arms, and fall asleep almost instantly.

Peeta P.O.V.

She falls asleep only a few minutes after I turned off the light, and I just lie there for a while watching her sleep, wondering what she's dreaming about, I know they can't be that bad because she isn't thrashing about, or talking in her sleep. I often wonder if she dreams about me, I dream about her. A lot. I never stop thinking about her; she is constantly on my mind.

I love her so much it hurts. I just want to spend every second of every day with her. I am just thinking about how strikingly beautiful she is when she begins to kick, and her arms thrash about. She begins murmur and I can't quite understand what she is saying.

"Coin…. Snow… Prim!" she is shouting now.

"SSHH Katniss, it's alright Katniss, I'm here." I tell her in soothing tones.

After a few minutes of her kicking and shouting she begins to calm down. I just hold her close, rock her gently and I whisper soothing things in her ear. I rock her for about 20 minutes and then slowly her eye lids flutter open. She hugs on to me tighter, like she never wants to let go.

"I'm so glad you're here, never leave me, ever." she whispers in my ear and then she begins to cry.

"Of course I'm here sweetheart," I say softly "I'm never going to leave you, I love you, and I'll love you forever."

"I'll love you forever too." she says through the tears. Then we kiss, and she snuggles deeper into my arms and eventually she falls asleep again, and so do I.

*Next Day*

"Good morning," Katniss says quietly "I'm sorry about last night, you know the nightmare and the crying."

"What are you talking about? You have nothing to be sorry for!" I say as I hug her closer.

"Well, I… I just thought that you might be scared that my nightmare may cause you to have one of your, your moments." I can see she is choosing her words carefully.

"Katniss, you know I have those under control now, all I want to do is to be here to look after you." I can see she is about to say something else but I kiss her before she can say it.

Katniss' P.O.V.

I still feel bad about last night, but I decide that it's best if I don't bring it up again. Peeta has his own problems; it's not fair if I unload my problems on him too. Deep down inside I know he honestly doesn't mind me telling him my problems but it makes me feel worse, he worries about me enough without having these extra worries. We decide to just lie in bed all morning we have nothing to do and we just want to be with each other. That was the plan but a certain Miss Trinkett had other ideas!

"Katniss, Peeta!" Effie exclaims whilst barging into our room.

"Effie how did you get in?" I ask.

"You left the front door unlocked, now who is ready for their first driving lesson?"

"What Effie? How did you know, the announcement was only broadcasted last night?" I say rather harshly.

"Katniss, although I now loath the place, living in the Capitol did have its advantages. I have friends in very high places. I knew about this new law weeks ago, and I knew a certain young lady who would certainly want to know how to drive! So I got both yourself and Peeta provisional licences so I can take you at to practise straight away." she exclaims still full of excitement.

I groan as I get up out of the bed, I tell Effie to go wait downstairs whilst, Peeta and I get dressed. I take a shower and pull on some jeans and a shirt and head downstairs. Peeta, Effie and I have some cereal and Orange juice (My favourite), and she explains to us some more about the learning to drive process. Once all the bowls and glasses have been washed up, we all head outside, when the thought suddenly occurred to me, obviously neither I nor Peeta have a car and I know of no one in District 12 that does, so how would we learn? But my questions were soon answered as outside the front of our house was a brand new, light orange car complete with a giant Green bow. A Present it turned out from Effie.

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**I Hope you liked it, I thought it would be fun to see Katniss and Peeta try to do some normal teenage stuff like learning to Drive, thank you so much for reading :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers, sorry I didn't post yesterday, I Hope you are enjoying the story, and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 4: Katniss' P.O.V.

I stand there silent, just staring at the car. I look up first at Peeta, and then at Effie, she is staring expectantly at us, awaiting our reaction.

"It's a beautiful colour Effie, thank you so much." Peeta says as he walks over to Effie to hug her. I am still in shock, I am speechless.

"Katniss, Katniss!" Effie is shaking me gently bringing me out of my little bubble of complete and utter shock. "What do you think of the car katniss?" Peeta says putting a reassuring arm around my waist.  
"I… I can't believe you bought us this Effie, it must have cost you a fortune!" I finally manage to stammer out.

"Think nothing of it, I have more money than I need, and I like to do things for you two, you have become like family to me, no you haven't become like family you are my family." Effie says lovingly.

I am so moved by Effie's words, my eyes become misty and I rush over to her and pull her into a tight hug. Effie is like family to me too, I have never had a good relationship with my real mother and although I call her from time to time, she has never offered to come and see if I'm okay, back here in District 12. Effie however has always shown a caring way with us, even when she thought she was escorting us to our deaths, twice. As I pull her into the hug her wig shifts a bit and I can see beautiful auburn hair. I can't resist reaching out to touch her beautiful hair and as I do her wig falls off completely and her beautiful hair falls into ringlets down her back.

"Effie," Peeta exclaims "Your hair, it's beautiful!"

"It really is Effie; you should stop wearing those silly Capitol wigs and have your hair normally!" I say.

"Oh, thank you, but I couldn't possibly wear anything but the Capitol style!" Effie says

"Come on Effie, the Capitol clothes don't look right on you here in District 12, why don't we go into town and get you some more appropriate clothes." Peeta says putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Well, I suppose I am a bit over dressed, and it would be nice to wear something a bit more comfortable."

"Come on then let's go." Peeta says turning to walk into town

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Effie asks whilst shaking the keys to mine and Peeta's new car.

"But Effie, neither I nor Peeta can drive yet Effie we don't have licences we have no idea what we are doing!" I say a tad of frustration creeping into my voice.

"Katniss, you never listen, I told you I was able to get both you and Peeta provisional licences which means you can drive the car as long as I am with you to instruct you." Effie says in a calming tone.

"Oh well, then in that case I'll drive!" I say as I run to grab the keys from Effie's hand.

Peeta's P.O.V.

Oh God, Oh God. I am about to get into a car with Katniss Everdeen at the wheel! I love Katniss to pieces but she isn't the best at taking direction and she doesn't have the longest temper. She puts the key in the ignition and the car starts. Effie tells katniss how to put the car into the correct gear and we set off. I see Katniss tense up a few times when Effie gives her some constructive criticism and at one point I think she is going to snap and scream at Effie but surprisingly she keeps her cool and we make it to the store in one piece. We park up outside the store and then we lead Effie towards the small clothing isle after about 45 minutes of Effie browsing, she finally choses 2 pairs of jeans, a few T-shirts, a few shirts, 2 skirts, 2 dresses, a pair of ballerina pumps and a pair of trainers. Katniss also got a new skirt dress and a pair of ballerina pumps. It turned out the train from the Capitol had just got in so there was extra choice of clothes for them, yay. Whilst the girls were shopping, I went over to the desk to pick up the frame I ordered the other day.

"Who is that young lady?" Oliver the store owner asks me. Oliver is in his late twenties and one of the survivors of the District 12 bombing who went to District 13 and came back to 12 after the rebellion. He was originally from the seam, so he has dark hair, grey eyes and a tanned complexion.

"Ahh," I say with a chuckle "Do you not recognise a certain Miss Effie Trinket without the weird Capitol get up?"

"That's Effie, WOW, she looks so, different, and so beautiful." He says whilst still staring at Effie.

"Why don't you go ask her out, I'm sure she'd say yes." I say.

"You think so?" he asks, and I nod "Okay then I will."

By this time Effie and Katniss have chosen their items and they are making their way to the check out.

"I hope you don't mind I picked up a few things myself." Katniss says to me.

"Of course I don't mind silly." I say pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

I watch Oliver; he is still staring at Effie whilst he is bagging up her things for her.

"Um, excuse me Miss Trinket," Oliver asks in a polite tone "I was wondering if you would like to go out with me sometime, maybe?"

I look at Effie now, he face at first it filled with shock but then a smile emerges on her lips.

"I would love to go out with you, how does tomorrow night at 6 sound?" she asks Oliver.

"That's fine, where shall I pick you up?" he replies.

"I'm living in Peeta's old house in the Victors Village."

"Okay see you then." Oliver says as he hands Effie her bags. Effie smiles at him as Katniss and I say thanks and then we leave. Katniss drives back and this time she does end up shouting at Effie, it would have been quite funny actually, if I hadn't been so petrified of crashing. When we arrive back in the Victors Village Katniss goes to storm off into our house but Effie tells her to stay put for a moment. I wait patiently with Katniss, my arm around her waist whilst Effie retrieves something from her house. She returns a moment later two books in her hand.

"There is one for each of you," She explains "It is called the rules of the road it will tell you everything you need to know for your written and practical examination."

"Thank you Effie." I say "We will study them well, I promise." She smiles and turns to go back into her house, I think she sensed Katniss' mood and like me feels that we have had enough driving for one day.

Effie's P.O.V.

I can't believe tomorrow night I have an actual date! I think moving to District 12 was the best idea I have ever had. I decide to go and put my new clothes away, sort out my Capitol ones. I end up putting my more flamboyant Capitol clothes in a box and placing them up in the attic as I don't think I will wear them much here in District 12. I Change out of my stilettos and skirt; I put on my new jeans, pumps and a long sleeved T-shirt. I also decide to place my wigs in storage; I think Katniss and Peeta are right it's time to be myself.

I go downstairs to see what food I have and I am pleasantly surprised to see that Peeta left quite a substantial amount of food in his cupboards and fridge/freezer. I am just about to pour myself a cup of tea when I hear a rather loud banging at my front door. I walk up to the door and look through the peep hole, Haymitch is standing on the opposite side of the door. I open up the door and Haymitch jumps back.

"Who are you and what have you done with Effie Trinket?" He asks me,

"Haymitch, do not be stupid I am Effie!" I say as I playfully bash him on the arm.

"But Effie, you look so different, your hair, its, its red!" he says with a chuckle.

"Yeah I know, this my new natural look, now what was it you wanted?" I ask.

"I wanted to know if you were serious about helping me get sober." He asks with nothing but sincerity.

"I was Haymitch, as odd as it may sound I have grown quite fond of you, I would like us to become friends and it want that friendship to last, so I fully intend to get you sober so you can live a long happy life." I say.

"Thanks Ef, I mean it." He says pulling me into a hug.

"Wait her a sec, I have something for you." I tell him. I go back inside and find the book it got for Haymitch.

"Here," I say handing him the book "Read it please, it will help you give up."

"I will." he says and I know he means it. We chat for a few more minutes and then he leaves and I go back inside.

I re-boil the kettle and I pour my tea, I grab a book of the shelf and I sit and read. I must have been reading for a few hours when I hear a loud banging at the door, I think it must be Haymitch again. But when I get to the door Katniss and Peeta are standing there with panic stricken faces.

"Effie grab your coat and come quickly!" Katniss says hysterically.

"Why Katniss what's wrong?" I ask panic creeping into my voice.

"It's Haymitch," Peeta says as calmly as he can "He's collapsed."

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**So, I hope you liked that, a new character Oliver and a possible romance for Him and Effie. And the cliff hanger ;) **

**Thanks for reading :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello Guys, I have spent all of today working on this, it is the longest chapter yet, I hope you enjoy it and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games****.**

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Chapter 5 Katniss' P.O.V.

(November 22nd)

Effie just stands there, the shock and panic is visible on her face.

"Wwwhaatt," she stammers, "You said this happens all the time?"

"Not this time Effie, this wasn't just one of his drunken mishaps." I say tugging at her hand.

"Yes Effie it is very serious, we went over to check on him, like we normally do, we were talking for a few minutes and then he started to clutch at his chest and then he collapsed." Peeta says grabbing her coat and purse off the coat rack by the door. We lead her out of the house and along the lane out of the Victors Village; none of us were in a fit state to drive. Peeta and I had called the hospital as soon as Haymitch collapsed and they sent out a paramedic in a car so that they could get Haymitch there faster. After a short walk we arrive at the Hospital. Effie is still in shock so Peeta takes her to sit down whilst I go up to the desk to enquire after Haymitch.

"Excuse me," I address the nurse at the desk "I am Katniss Everdeen, I'm friends with Haymitch Abernathy do you have any information for me about what happened to him."

"Hello Katniss, Mr Abernathy is in a stable condition he had a cardiac arrest, that was cuased by his unhealthy diet and alcohol addiction but he should be fine, he is in room 16 but he has just had major surgery so he will be heavily sedated for a while." She says in a comforting tone, "Oh by the way I'm Nurse Cathy, if you want to know anymore just ask for me."

"Okay thank you." I say and I give a slight nod as I walk back to where Peeta and Effie are sitting.

"Haymitch should be fine, he had a heart attack but he came out of the surgery okay, we can go see him now but he is still under sedation so he won't wake up for a few more hours." I say as I sit down next to Peeta.

"Well at least he is okay, did they say what caused the heart attack." Effie asks in a quiet voice.

"Yes, his unhealthy diet and alcohol addiction were mostly to blame." I reply, and then suddenly Effie bursts into tears.

"Ssshhh Effie, it's okay, Haymitch is okay." Peeta says soothingly has he pulls her close in an attempt to comfort her. He puts his other arm around me and we just sit there together for a while but through all that time Effie never stops crying.

"Effie are you okay, you haven't stopped crying." I ask placing my hand on her arm.

"I'm fine really it's just something Haymitch said this morning," Effie says through her tears, "He came to my house, he seriously wanted to give up drinking, and it just seems like every time something good happens to us, an equally bad thing happens too!" Effie wails. And as soon as she has said it I know instantly what she means, I haven't had very many good things but when I have had good things, they nearly always get taken away from me. We sit there for a few more minutes and then we decide to leave, Haymitch won't be awake until tomorrow anyway.

We walk about to our houses, I offer to stay with Effie tonight to make sure she is okay, but she says she will be fine so Peeta and I go back to our house. We go straight up to bed I don't even bother to have a shower tonight I am just so tired. I brush my teeth put on my PJ's and I slide in next to Peeta. He kisses the top of my head and puts a protective arm around me. And as I drift off to sleep all I can think about is that what Effie said is too true.

Effie's P.O.V.

After Katniss and Peeta go into their house, I quietly sneak out of my house and I walk back to the hospital. I go and find Haymitch's room; he is asleep like I thought he would be. I just sit in the chair by his bed and put my hand in his. I never had a Dad growing up, I was an accident the result of a one night stand my Mom had. I love my Mom to bits of course I do but I had always wondered what it would be like to have a Dad. Haymitch has kind of become like a Dad to me, even though he doesn't know it. But it was nice, the few months of the year when I was escorting for the games I would get to see Haymitch. At first I truly hated him, but then I began to feel sorry for him because I realised he hasn't had the best life. I still pretended to hate him though, all of the Capitol thought I did so why change that, and If snow knew I was beginning to like him, I cannot imagine what would have happened. I look up at the clock and realise I have been here for hours when it has only felt like minutes. I decide I should go but before I do I kiss Haymitch on the top on the head and I whisper,

"Bye Dad." I turn to walk out when the sound of Haymitchs voice stops me,

"Effie did you just call me Dad?" Haymitch asks me in a slightly shocked tone,

"Um Yes I did actually." I say as I go to sit back down, I explain to him about my childhood and how he has become like a father figure to me. I am slightly scared as to what he is going to say but I am relieved when he smiles,

"Oh Effie, I am honoured that you think of me as a father figure, and now we can get to spend even more time together as you help me recover and get sober."

I smile and say "Yes, I suppose we will be spending more time together." after that I tell him I should be going and I kiss him on the top of the head again as I leave. I walk home and I crawl into bed, and I think that maybe all things happen for a reason, because if Haymitch hadn't oh had his heart attack, I would've never told him how I feel and we would've never of had this new found respect for each other.

Meanwhile at Katniss' and Peeta's

Peeta's P.O.V.

Katniss fell asleep about an hour ago, I tried going to sleep to but Effie's words just keep sticking in my head. She is right bad things do happen to us, but it also made me realise that you need to express your feelings more to the ones you love because you might not get the chance. I love Katniss so much and I know we are going to be with her forever, but I just want to make it official. I am going to do it; I am going to propose to Katniss. But how, it has to be special! Okay Christmas Eve I am going to propose, I am going to make it really romanticI will send Katniss out all day and I will get Effie and Oliver to help me.

*1 Month Later (December 23rd)*

This month went by so fast; I spent half my time looking after Haymitch and the other half planning how I'm going to propose. It took me all month to find the perfect ring, and I finally found it yesterday, the day before Christmas Eve! It is a sliver ring with Rubies and Golden Sapphires encrusted into it, I really hope she likes it. She still has no idea, or at least I think she doesn't. Effie and Oliver have been helping me and so has Haymitch when he feels up to it. Katniss is out hunting for the day so it gives Oliver, Effie and I have a good chance to get the house ready. We turn the living room into a winter wonderland. We sprinkle fake snow on the top of the Christmas tree and the piano. We place boughs of holly all around the room and we place mistletoe under the door way. We put cinnamon scented candles everywhere and we light the fire. Effie goes through Katniss' closet to find the perfect dress for her to wear and she takes it back to her house, she plans to intercept Katniss on her way back to the house so she can get her ready. Once we finish decorating the room I place the Christmas cakes and cookies I made earlier on the coffee table. I go and place the ring box under the tree and then I go and change into my suit. I know I want this, I have wanted this since I was 5 but now I am suddenly nervous. This has to be perfect, and I still don't know whether or not she will say yes.

Katniss' P.O.V.

I had a great day hunting today, I don't usually like hunting in the winter because of the shorter days but it was actually really good day. However I usually in a good mood this time of year, I just love Christmas, I have no idea why I just do! I am just walking down the lane when I see Effie running at me at full speed with a scarf in her hand. When she finally catches up with me she tells me to put the scarf on as a blindfold and to take her hand. At first I protest but then I just give in because I have no chance of winning an argument with Effie Trinket. She takes my hand, and leads me into what I think is her house, she leads me upstairs and tells me I can take the blindfold off now. When I finally get the scarf of my head I am surprised to see Effie's room, full of make-up and one of my dresses. She still won't tell me anything she just tells me to take a shower and put on the underwear she left in the bathroom. Once I have showered she tells me to put on the red dress and then she sits me down at her dressing table and she does my hair and make-up. When she has finished I look so different, and I don't want to sound big headed but I look beautiful. Effie leaves the room for a second and when she returns she is carrying a box that contains a new pair of high heels.

"Oh Effie," I exclaim "They are beautiful they must have cost a fortune!"

"Don't thank me thank Peeta, and yes between you and me they did cost a fortune, now come on you have somewhere to be." she hands me a white fur jacket that matches perfectly with my red dress and she leads me down the stairs and out the front door.

Peeta is standing on Effie's Porch, waiting for me I presume.

"Thanks Effie." he says, I put my arm through his and he walks me back to our house.

I gasp when I walk into the living room, it is so beautiful, Peeta must have spent hours putting up the mistletoe and holly, sprinkling the fake snow all the candles. Everything is just magical although I still have no idea what I'm doing. Peeta leads me to the soft rug by the coffee table and we sit down, we chat for a while, both of us avoiding the subject of what is going on. We eat the cookies and cakes he made and the finally he clears his throat, this is it I think I am finally going to find out what this is all about.

"Katniss, I love you so much, I've loved you since I was 5." he says sweat beading up on his forehead, that only happens when he is nervous, why would he be nervous?

"I love you too Peeta." I say putting my hand on his arm. He continues,

"We have had some tough times together but, we have pulled through and now we are stronger than ever. Katniss I know you said you wanted to wait for a while to get married, but what happened to Haymitch made me realise you need to tell people how you feel when you still have the time to, so Katniss Everdeen," He says reaching for a small box under the tree. Oh my God, Oh my God, he is proposing, he is going to propose, I mean I always knew we were going to get married but WOW. He is down on one knee now.

"Will you marry me?" He says staring deep into my eyes. I don't hesitate with my answer,

"YES," I shriek with delight, "YES, of course I'll marry you!" I say as I pull him into a hug, he loses his balance and we topple onto the floor. I begin to laugh and so does he. He slips the ring onto my finger. I hold my hand up so that the light catches it, I am engaged I can't believe this! This has just become one more reason why I love Christmas.

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**I hope you enjoyed that, Haymitch is okay and Katniss and Peeta are engaged! I'm sorry if you think my aging of Effie is wrong but i always imagined her to be quite young like late twenties. Thanks for reading and Please Review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello guys, Here is Chapter 6, i really enjoyed writing this, I hope you like it, and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games**

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Chapter 6 Katniss' P.O.V.

I wake up on the living room floor; Peeta is still asleep beside me. We must have fallen asleep here last night. It is only when I sit up properly and survey the room that I realise what day it is.

"Merry Christmas fiancé." Peeta says making me jump. I lean over to kiss him and whisper,

"Merry Christmas to you too fiancé."

Aarrggg I still can't believe I'm engaged. It's a wonderful feeling though, very wonderful. I stand up extending my hand to Peeta, he takes it and I help pull him to his feet. We go upstairs shower and get dressed because we have a long day ahead of us.

We invited my Mom, Haymitch, Effie and Oliver over for Christmas. I really don't mind Haymitch, Effie and Oliver coming over but I didn't really want to invite my Mom. Peeta insisted we invite her though; I had no idea why until last night he wanted her to come so we could tell her about the engagement. It's not that I don't love my Mom, I do. However we have never been that close and every time we talk she tells me about Gale. I know that she likes Peeta, but I think she thinks there could be something between Gale and me, when there clearly isn't because I love Peeta. Thankfully I don't have to collect her from the station, Effie offered to do that bless her. Once I have showered and brushed my teeth I put on a long sleeved, amber coloured, silk dress. I choose this dress for two reasons: one because amber is one of Peeta's favourite colours and two because it complements the ring nicely. I then put on the new shoes Peeta got me; I decide to leave my hair loose only clipping back my fringe. I then put on a little bit of makeup and head downstairs.

Peeta is in the kitchen, he sees me and smiles,

"Wow, you look amazing, so beautiful."

"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself!" I say as I Kiss him on the cheek. He is wearing dark jeans and an orange sweater, which matches perfectly with my dress. We have a quick breakfast and then Peeta sets to work on the Dinner, whilst I tidy the house. I hoover upstairs and downstairs, I dust everywhere, plump cushions and I generally make sure everything is in its place. Around 11 Peeta goes out to fetch Haymitch and I am left biting my nails waiting for my Mother, Effie and Oliver to arrive. Over the past month Effie and Oliver have sort of become an item, they spend all of their free time with each other, and I often see Oliver leaving Effie's house early in the Morning! I hear the front door open and I wait with baited breath, but I breathe a sigh of relief when Peeta walks through the door closely followed by Haymitch.

"Let me see it then!" Haymitch says as he sits down next to me on the couch. I hold out my hand to him when a thought crosses my mind.

"Haymitch how do you know, Peeta and I agreed we would tell people together!" I wail Haymitch chuckles.

"The we all knew sweetheart, we helped Peeta organise the whole thing!" Then he starts to chuckle even louder obviously amused by something he is thinking.

"Heck the whole town knew but you didn't sweetheart, but that was the idea!" That's Haymitch always the joker he has become a much more likeable Person since he has become sober. I hear the door go and I brace myself but only Effie and Oliver enter the room.

"Effie!" I exclaim, "You were supposed to pick up my mother this morning!"

"Katniss dear, clam down, I went to the station but when I arrived there was a very nice young man with a message from your mother saying that she would be on a later train and she would find her way here herself." Effie said in a calming tone, "Oh and he said that she had a surprise for you!" My heart starts beating faster a surprise, I hate surprises! She knows that, what on earth could this surprise be? We all sit and chat for an hour or so. Peeta is making dinner to be ready for 2 and Effie assures him my mother will be here by then.

Effie spends a good half hour questioning me about last night.

"Show me it!" she is practically shrieking, "Show me the ring!" I obediently give her my hand and she shrieks again, I glance over to Oliver he looks slightly worried; I think he thinks Effie is Getting Ideas!  
"Oh my goodness, it's so beautiful." Effie gushes.

"Thank you, it is beautiful isn't it." I say

"We spent all day getting the house ready, did you like it?" Effie continues,

"Yes, it was perfect thank you Effie." I reply

"Oh good, I'm glad you liked it!" Effie continues on like this for another 20 minutes before I finally manage to escape her, I go and sit next to Haymitch for some sanity.

"Hey Kiddo, I can't believe you going to get married, you'll be Mrs Katniss Mellark!" Haymitch says as I sit down, I groan,

"Not you too, I've just had Effie grill me about why Orange is the wrong colour flower to have!" Haymitch chuckles and I go on to say "I am excited, of course I am but what colour dress I want my bridesmaids to wear is not really my top priority!" Haymitch chukles some more and then he says,

"Okay Kiddo, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, how about you, how are you Haymitch?" I say smiling at him,

"Me, I'm doing okay, the doctors seem to think I'm going to be okay as long as I eat right and never drink again." he says positively

"That's great Haymitch, we'll all help you to eat right and stay away from the drink, and you'll still be here for a long while!" I say as I give him a hug. Just then the Phone rings and Peeta goes to get it. He talks for a while and then he comes in,

"Katniss that was your mom, she says she won't be here until later this evening her train has just broken down." Peeta says

"Okay is the dinner ready because if so we should just eat now?" I ask, he smiles and says,

"Yeah it is, come on everybody lets eat!"

Peeta's P.O.V.

Everyone gets up and takes their seat at the table. Haymitch sits at the head of the table, me and Katniss one side of him, Effie and Oliver to the other. We talk about the engagement mostly over dinner, but we talk about other topics too, like how the new government is working out and what Haymitch should do with all his spare time now he doesn't drink. Effie suggests Gardening, I suggest painting, Katniss suggests that he should get a pet of some sort and he seems to genuinely like that suggestion. When we are all finished eating Katniss helps me clear everything away. She gets cross we I blow washing up bubbles all over her staining her dress, but she gets her own back by smearing the last of the gravy down the front of my sweater. Then we both burst into a fit of giggles. Effie comes in to see what all the laughing is about and she begins to scold us when she sees the state we are in.

"That is no way for young adults to behave, now go upstairs and change!" We do as she says; I put on a new green sweater and Katniss puts on a very festive green dress with red trim. Once we have changed we go downstairs to start opening presents. We worked out a system by which the youngest open their presents first, so Katniss opens her presents first. She gets new clothes and a book entitled "Planning a Wedding: The basics" from Effie and Oliver, From Haymitch she gets a mug which has "Bride To Be" printed on it, books and a charm bracelet and from me she gets a new bow and hunting gear. I'm next from Haymitch I get an apron which has "Burn Baby Burn" printed on it and I get some cook books so I can try recipes from other districts. From Effie and Oliver I get a little box and inside are a set of keys, they are keys to the bakery, so I can start working there after the holidays are over! Effie says she will do all the paperwork and accounts for the bakery so I don't have to worry about that. Katniss gets me equipment for the bakery; I am extremely happy with my gifts. We all clubbed together to buy Haymitch his present, the Capitol have just invented this new handheld computer device that you can play games on, we figured Haymitch could use it to help keep his mind off drinking. Haymitch loves it and then Effie opens her presents, she gets Jewellery from Oliver, and from Haymitch, Katniss and me she gets a new Capitol invention called a laptop which she loves! Finally Oliver gets chocolates from Katniss and me, clothes from Effie and a calendar from Haymitch.

Katniss' P.O.V.

After all the presents are opened we all sit on the couches to watch old Christmas Movies, I snuggle up to Peeta, Effie snuggles up to Oliver and Haymitch sits contently on his own. At around 6, there is a knock at the door. Peeta calls out that its open knowing it can only be my mother at the door, and a few seconds later in walks my mother two large suitcases in tow. I stand up and walk over to greet her.

"Hello Mother." I say warily, not sure of her mood.

"Katniss, so good to see you!" she exclaims evidently she is in a good one. Peeta gets up takes my Mom's bags upstairs, I gesture for her to sit and she sits down on the couch next to Haymitch. I hear Peeta coming down the stairs and I decide this would be a good time to tell her about the engagement I mean she would notice the ring soon anyway.

"Um Mom, Peeta and I have something to tell you." I say nervously Peeta is by my side now a protective arm around my waist.

"Peeta and I are engaged Mom."

"Oh Katniss, that's so great." she says flatly. I know I should ask her how she has been and everything but I can't stop thinking about the surprise and I have to ask,

"Um Mom, I was wondering, erm what my surprise was?"

"Oh your surprise…" she trails of nervously and I'm sure the nervousness in her voice has something to do with the announcement I just made,

"You're engaged!" He says the hurt evident in his voice. I hear a gasp from Effie, a grunt from Haymitch and Peeta's grip on my wait tightens. Me? I just stand there in complete and utter shock. Not in a million years did I think Gale would be my surprise.

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**Dun dun dun, Gales back, i'll get the next chapter up soon i promise, thanks so much for reading/reviewing :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, Here is Chapter 7, I hope you like it, and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games**

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Chapter 7 Katniss' P.O.V.

"Gale" I finally manage to stammer out,

"What are you doing here?" I ask in disbelief.

"Your Mom said if I would come back here, you might fall for me again but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, now that you're shacked up with bread boy!" Gale shouts before storming out. I turn into Peeta and burst into tears; he hugs me close and whispers soothing words into my ear. When I have stopped crying I turn to my Mother,

"How could you?" I scream at her "You know I love Peeta and I am finally happy after everything that has happened, I never wanted to see Gale again and you knew that, so please mother just go, because I don't want to see you ever again now." I yell at her. Silently she gets up, she goes upstairs retrieves her bags hands Effie a bag filled with presents and then she leaves. She doesn't even say sorry. After that little episode everyone thinks it's about time they should go home, Peeta and I say goodbye to everyone and when they have all gone I start to cry again. Peeta leads me still sobbing onto the couch where we just sit, he cradles me whilst I cry, he rocks me back and forth and I clutch onto he sweater staining it with tears. After about an hour my tears begin to cease.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper to Peeta,

"You have nothing to be sorry for, it was a big shock for you to see Gale and find out that your Mom was only here to try and get you to go off with Gale." Peeta says whilst smoothing down my hair.

"You know I would never leave you right, I would never ever contemplate going back with her and Gale." I say snuggling closer to him.

"I know, I would never think of leaving you, I love you Katniss, you are my everything, all I need is you." He says and then he kisses me and my heart starts to race and I feel butterflies in my stomach. Finally we break away from each other, and we just sit there happy in each other's company. After a while I feel my eyelids getting heavy and I decide to go up to bed but as I go to make my way up the stairs I notice the kitchen is still in a state from this morning when Peeta and I had our little food/washing up liquid fight, so I decide to finish cleaning before I go up to bed.

I have nearly finished washing up when I accidentally cut my hand on a knife I was washing. I walk over to the medicine cabinet and reach up for the box containing antiseptic and band aids. I am having trouble reaching the box with just one hand when I feel Peeta behind me he grabs the box and I turn round to take it from him, but it's not Peeta handing me the box, its Gale.

"Gale," I hiss not wanting Peeta to hear me "What the heck are you doing here, how did you get in?"

"The back door was unlocked, look Katniss I wanted to apologise for what happened earlier with your Mom and everything." He says, but something still doesn't seem right, I move back to the sink spray the antiseptic on my cut and then I put the band aid on it, I then move back over to the medicine cabinet and put the box back In its place, when I turn round gale is standing very close in front of me blocking my path. He has me corned up against the work top, I cannot move, I am forced to look at him and answer his question.

"Katniss do you accept my apology?" he asks.

"Look Gale, Just go please, I don't want to see you ever again, I am Happy with Peeta I love him so please just go." He looks at me for a few moments and then he says something that totally surprises me,

"You could be happier with me!" He says before kissing me, now I know there is nothing between gale and me because the kiss is nothing like mine and Peeta's, I get no butterflies in my stomach nor does my heart race. I push him away, it breaks our kiss but I'm not strong enough to push him away completely, so I have so scream for Peeta.

"Peeta, help, please." I hear him get up off the couch, and he runs into the kitchen he must have sensed the urgency in my voice. Gale takes a step back when Peeta enters the room; he's back far enough now that I am free to move. I am longing for Peeta to punch Gale but I know he won't he's too nice, Gale knows he won't too because he is smiling a cocky, arrogant smile, that was all it took one look at that smile and I began to shake with rage if Peeta wouldn't punch Gale I sure as hell would. I lunged at Gale ready to tear his eyes out, I slapped and kicked and punched him hard until I felt Peeta's arms around my waist pulling me off him.

"Get out!" I scream at Gale "Get out, get out, get out!" I am hysterical now and the only one who knows how to calm me down is Peeta.

"Wait here." he says gruffly to Gale, he then picks me up in his arms and carries me upstairs. He helps me to get changed into one of his old T-shirts and my cotton pyjama bottoms. He then helps me into bed and stays with me until I fall asleep.

Peeta's P.O.V.

I didn't want Gale to leave, I needed to find out what was going on but I thought he would leave. Why would he stay? He had just had my Fiancé corned. Once Katniss has drifted off I return downstairs and I am surprised to find Gale still standing there, his cheek still red from where Katniss slapped him.

"Why are you here Gale?" I ask him "You know deep down inside that you and Katniss could never be together."

"I know that, at least I did, after the rebellion I had my head straight I knew Katniss wouldn't want anything to do with me and I accepted that." He says quietly,

"So, what happened after that?" I ask intrigued now.

"Katniss' Mom came and found my in 2, she said she had spoken to Katniss and she was unhappy, she though if she was with me she would be healthier, happier, but it turned out that Katniss' Mom had been lying all along because she is extremely happy and healthy here with you." he says flatly.

"Look Gale, you let her go once you can do it again, go back to District 2 there are plenty of young girls there who would love to be on your arm, you've just got to find the right one. Katniss is the right one for me; you need to find the right one for you." I say sympathetically, I know what it feels like to love someone and not have them love you back.

"I suppose you're right, thanks Peeta." His thank you seems genuine.

"Now Gale, are you going to tell me what made Katniss so hysterical?" I ask him, he tenses up,

"Oh, um, I kissed her." He says so quietly I can't hear him,

"What?" I say, he clears his throat,

"I kissed her." he says again louder this time so I can hear him.

"Oh." is all I can say. He swallows before saying,

"Are you mad?"

"No," I chuckle, "I kissed her plenty of times when you two were sort of an item, just please don't do it again, you saw how much it upset her."

"I won't." He says as he gets up to leave "Look Peeta I think this is the last time we will ever see each other, so goodbye."

"Bye Gale, I hope you become as happy as we are now." I say, he nods and then he is out the back door. Just to be safe I double lock the front and back door before I go up to bed.

Silently I change into my pyjamas and brush my teeth. I slide into Katniss being careful not to wake her. I lie there for I don't know how long when she turns to me and asks,

"Did he tell you what happened?"

"Yes," I say trying to pull her into a hug, but she squirms away, "Katniss, honey, what's wrong?"

"I feel awful, why aren't you mad, I should have called you the second I saw him, I should have never let it get that far!" she wails.

"Sshh, Katniss, no, no it's okay, I have no reason to be mad, you didn't know he was going to kiss you!" I say extending my arms to her, this time she does accept the hug.

"How, are you though, you got pretty worked up, how are your hands?" I ask hugging her tighter,

"They're fine the band aid is from where I accidentally cut myself with a knife I was washing up, but my other hand doesn't hurt from where I slapped Gale." she says the venom creeping back into her voice when she says Gale's name.

"Good, I'm glad you're okay now," I say "Do you ever think you'll try and patch things up with your Mom?" I ask cautiously,

"No, not this time, she went too far, I don't care if she isn't in my life anymore it's her own fault she's going to miss out on stuff like the wedding and grandchildren. And besides we have Effie and Haymitch, they are the only family we need." she says snuggling deeper into my chest.

"I think you're right." I say with a smile because not only did she answer my question she reinforced my idea that she does secretly wants children.

"I'm always right." she says sleepily. I chuckle, and then she falls back asleep. Soon after I fall asleep to, and for the first time in what seems like forever I don't dream about mutts chasing me or losing Katniss. I dream about Katniss and I having children and being a happy family.

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**Thanks for reading :) I really hope you enjoy it :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello again, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit short but i liked writing it, and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games**

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Chapter 8 Katniss' P.O.V.

*New Year's Eve*

Peeta and I did a lot of talking over the past few days. He reassured me that he wasn't mad about Gale kissing me. I reassured him that getting married was what I wanted to do. We talked a lot about the wedding actually. Effie brought over some wedding magazines from the Capitol for me to look at. They were filled with things that I didn't even know existed, like wedding favours! Who gives people presents for going to their wedding? Still Peeta wants the whole caboodle so we are going to have a relatively big wedding. The hardest decision I have had to make so far is who is going to be my maid of honour. It is between Effie and Johanna. Effie has been really good to me, she has treated me like family, she bought Peeta and I our car and she helped him organise the proposal. But, Johanna has become a really good friend to me. She went through so much during the quarter quell and the rebellion.

Eventually Peeta Helped me come to a compromise, Effie would be a bridesmaid but she would also be our wedding planner and Johanna would be my Maid of Honour. So Peeta and I are heading to District 7 for New Year to ask Johanna if she would like to be my Maid of Honour. We have packed our bags and we have to be at the station at 10, to catch the train to District 7.

"Are you ready?" Peeta calls to me from downstairs.

"Yep, I'm just coming." I call back. I quickly check upstairs to make sure we haven't forgotten anything and then I make my way downstairs to join Peeta. He takes my hand and we make our way to the station. We board the train; Peeta lets me have the Window seat so I can see when we arrive in District 7. I don't really like trains, they remind me too much of the games, it can't be much better for Peeta but if it affects him he doesn't show it. Johanna is expecting us, but she doesn't know what we plan on asking her, she just thinks it's a friendly visit. Drift off about half 10 and I wake again at around half 12. I suddenly begin to feel nervous, I hadn't thought of the possibility that she would say no. What if she doesn't want to be my Maid of Honour? My thoughts are stopped by Peeta tapping me on the shoulder telling me we're here. That was quick, less than 3 hours.

Johanna is there to greet us at the station. She hugs both me and Peeta.

"Wow, you two look so great." She says taking my suitcase off Peeta.

"You look great too Jo, I like your hair like that." I say, since I last saw her, her hair has gown and is now bobbed around her shoulders.

"Thanks, I like it too." she says as she leads us town a lane out of the town. We chat as we walk to Johanna's home, I expected her to live in an apartment near the town, but we keep getting further and further into the forest. Finally we stop at a little wooden cabin.

"Oh my goodness, Jo it's beautiful!" I say in shock,

"Yes Jo, it really is breath taking." Peeta adds.

"Thank you." Johanna says as she leads us inside. She takes Peeta's suitcase with my own and she places them in her spare Bedroom. I have been trying to hide my hand from Johanna just in case she notices the ring, but so far I don't think she has. We all move into her living room and we sit on her couch Johanna one side of me Peeta the other.

"Johanna we actually came here to tell you something." Peeta begins,

"Um, yes Jo, Peeta and I are getting married. I finish. Her eyes move from the ring to my stomach then back up to mine and Peeta's faces.

"Katniss, you're not knocked up are you?!" she asks in shock. Peeta and I both look at each other and laugh.

"No, Jo calm down I'm not pregnant, Peeta and I are getting married because we love each other and want to be together forever." I say as her pat her arm.

"Oh, good I was worried for a minute there." she says as she gives me a hug.

"There was another thing I wanted to ask you." I say the nerves returning,

"Shoot." She says,

"Jo, please would you be my Maid of Honour." I ask, her eyes widen and she pulls me into another hug,

"Katniss," She shrieks "I would love to be your Maid of Honour!" We chat more about wedding stuff and how she has been since the rebellion. When we finish talking it is about 5 pm, we decide to stay in rather than go out. Johanna switches on her TV and we watch some chick flicks and much to my surprise Peeta does not moan once. At about 11 pm, we switch over to the Panem news channel to see the firework display the put on in the Capitol. Once the display is over we all go to bed.

Peeta's P.O.V.

*Next Morning*

I wake up and Katniss is still asleep beside me, which is a rare occurrence as I usually wake up after her. I get up and go look out the window. The Forests here in District 7 are much lusher than the Forests we have back in 12. Suddenly I feel Katniss' arms around me,

"I'm sorry, I didn't wake you did I?" I ask turning round so I can give her a proper hug.

"No, I just woke up, the forests here are really beautiful aren't they?" she says through a yawn,

"Yeah they are, you know our train doesn't leave until 5 maybe we could go for a hike in the woods this morning?" I ask, I can hear the smile in her voice when she replies,

"Yeah that would be lovely." So we get dressed and join Joanna in the kitchen for some breakfast. We tell her about our plan of going hiking in the woods and she asks if she can join us. Around 10 am we leave for our hike, District 7 really is beautiful there is so much wildlife. We stop at around 1 pm for a picnic, Johanna commenting on how cute Katniss and I are, Katniss just laughs and questions Johanna about her love life to which Joanna replies she doesn't need a man which just makes Katniss laugh even more. After we have finished our Picnic we hike back to Joanna's and Katniss and I pack our suitcases.

"It's a shame you couldn't stay longer." Joanna says as she helps Katniss pack,

"I know," Katniss says with a sigh, "But we have to get back to Effie and Haymitch."

Once everything is packed Katniss and Johanna have a slightly teary goodbye, although Johanna will be coming to District 12 soon for Maid of Honour duties.

Katniss and I walk back to the station hand in hand. We board the train at 5 and she falls asleep as soon as it starts moving her head resting on my shoulder so I can't move. So I just sit there staring out the window. I watch as all the other Districts pass by, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and finally we pull into 12's station. I gently shake Katniss awake and I grab our suitcases from the overhead compartments.

We walk back to the Victors Village slowly as Katniss is still really tired, she has one arm around my waist the other dragging her suitcase behind her. We are nearly there when suddenly we hear lots of bird's honking. We round the corner into the Victors Village and we are greeted with the sight of Haymitch trying to control a flock of honking Geese.

"Haymitch!" Peeta exclaims "What the heck is going on?" Haymitch just chuckles,

"Well I liked Katniss' suggestion that I get a pet, so I decided I would raise some geese."

"Haymitch I meant get something like a hamster not one of the noisiest animals in all of Panem." Katniss mutters in disbelief.

"What does Effie think of all this?" I ask,

"She doesn't really like it, she said it was unsanitary to keep them and she said if they disrupted any of her beauty sleep we would be having geese for dinner." Haymitch replies gruffly. Katniss bursts out laughing, and I have to stifle a giggle,

"I'm sorry Haymitch but I agree with Effie." Katniss manages to splutter out through the giggles.

"Well none of you will be eating Geese because I will keep them under control," Haymitch says firmly "Come on Fifi, come on Trixie, and come on candy!" he then walks off towards his house, the geese following obediently behind. As soon as Haymitch is out of ear shot Katniss starts laughing uncontrollably again,

"He named his geese, Fifi, Trixie and Candy!" She shrieks with laughter. She doesn't stop laughing for a good 5 minutes, when she has finally calmed down she takes her suitcase off me and takes it inside.

When she gets inside she is pleasantly surprised as Effie has left a big stack of new wedding magazines out for her. I take the bags upstairs whilst Katniss sits on the couch flicking through the magazines. I come and join her on the couch,

"What do you think of the colours lime green, fuchsia pink and turquoise blue?" she asks me,

"I think they're perfect." I say with a smile,

"Me too, they're so bright and uplifting." she says smiling too,

"I think we have decided a colour scheme." I say with a chuckle.

"Me too." she says and then she leans over to kiss me.

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**I hope you enjoyed that. Do you think it was right to bring Johanna back? I just really like her character! I may not be able to post tomorrow night, but i will make sure i post the next chapter on saturday for reading and Please review :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, I am so sorry I haven't posted in a while, it's no excuse but i was sick and then at a friend's house. I hope you like this chapter and as always please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 9 Katniss' P.O.V.

*2 Weeks Later*

Effie and Johanna are taking me to The Capitol for my Bachelorette Party; I am dreading it so much. It is going to be the first time I have been away from Peeta since he came back to District 12. The only good thing about this trip is the fact that I will finally be able to see my dress. I described to Effie what I wanted my dress to look like, and she talked to some of her old friends in the Capitol and she has got it custom made for me. I try to keep thinking positive, think about the dress, think about the dress.

"Dreading is worse than doing." Peeta tells me for the umpteenth time,

"I know, but I'm worrying about more than just going to the Capitol." I say knowing full well he knows what I mean.

"Katniss, I promise I'll be okay by myself." He says,

"But you won't be by yourself, Oliver will be here, and he wants to take you into town for a few beers." I say in a mocking tone.

"Katniss we are both 18, legally allowed to drink and both very responsible, you will be fine in the Capitol and I will be fine here stop worrying!" he says as he puts his arms around me. Finally we break our embrace and Peeta continues to help me pack. My mind wonders back to what Effie and Joanna have in store for me. I'm not really a partying type of girl, but I have a bad feeling Joanna convinced Effie to work in us going to some clubs into the Capitol schedule. I really appreciate their efforts to give me an authentic bachelorette party, but I really would rather stay in District 12 for my party. Peeta gets to stay in District 12. Haymitch doesn't drink anymore and the only other male friend Peeta has is Oliver. So they are just going into town for a few beers. I'm glad Effie and Oliver got together, Effie is a lot happier and Peeta has a guy other than Haymitch to hang out with. We finish packing my suitcase and Peeta carries it downstairs for me, where Johanna and Effie are waiting. Peeta and Oliver walk us down to the station. I hug him goodbye and whisper I love you in his ear. He whispers I love you too, and I feel my eyes brimming with tears.

"Oh jeez Katniss, You'll see him in 3 days!" Johanna says as she pulls me off Peeta. Effie isn't any better. She hugs and kisses Oliver and keeps telling him all the things he has to remember to do whilst she is away.

"Come on guys we really have to go now, or we'll miss the train!" Johanna is shouting now. I jug Peeta one more time, and Effie hugs Oliver one last time. Then we all board the train. On the train Effie hands both me and Johanna a copy of our itinerary for our trip. When we get to the Capitol we are going straight to the hotel to put away our bag and then we are going straight to the bridal boutique to try on my dress. Then we are going back to the hotel for an early night because tomorrow we are going to an all day spa and then at night we are going out to a club. I hope I have a good time, I really do. But o often have terrible nightmares when I don't have Peeta with me. And I'm afraid being back in the capitol will make them stronger.

Peeta's P.O.V.

Saying goodbye to Katniss, even though it's only for a few days is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. When I get home I don't know what to do with myself. It's really strange not having Katniss around. In the end I decide to go to the bakery. Now that it's finished I spend a lot of my time there, Working at the bakery will be mine and Katniss' main form of income. We still get compensation from the Capitol for what happened during the games and the rebellion and Katniss gets money from the game she sells but owning. Working at the bakery will be our steady income. When I arrive at the bakery I get to work on wedding cake designs. Katniss was adamant that I make the cake, so I have to create something breathtakingly beautiful for our special day. I know Katniss like 3 tired cakes, white chocolate and raspberry so I'm trying to incorporate them into the design. I work for hours, sketching new ideas and trying out different flavours together. At around 5 pm I leave as I am supposed to be meeting Oliver at 6 pm. I go home shower and grab a bite to eat, Haymitch told me from experience that it's not good to drink on an empty stomach. Our phone has a message from Katniss saying that she got to the Capitol okay and she was missing me like crazy. In the background of the message I could hear Joanna shouting at Katniss to forget about me and go have some fun, Johanna does make me laugh. I ready by half 5 and Oliver is staying in Effie's house while she's in the Capitol so I'm just going to walk over there now. I walk out of my front door, and see Oliver sitting on his porch obviously waiting for me.

"Hey," he says, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." I reply half-heartedly,

"Oh come on man, stop worrying about Katniss," He says "what's the worst that can happen?" and then I just can't stop thinking, what is the worst that can happen?

Katniss' P.O.V.

We are waiting patiently in the bridal boutique whilst the assistant fetches my dress. She brings it back in a bag so I still can't see what it looks like. The assistant calls me up and leads me behind the big draped curtains so she can help me into my dress. When she takes the bag off my dress I am speechless. It is exactly what I pictured in my head. It is strapless and tight fitting down to my knees, and then at my knees it fans out to the floor. It has small crystals around the top of the dress but my favourite part of the dress are the pink, blue and green netting underneath the bottom half of my dress to help it fan out. In a box next to the dress are a pair of white, high heeled shoes adorned in crystals and in another box there is a veil and tiara. Once she has helped me into the dress I put on the shoes, veil and tiara and I step out of the curtain to show Johanna and Effie. Effie gasps and her eyes brim with tears of joy and Joanna just smiles and tries to hold back tears of her own.

"Do I look okay?" I ask them.

"Katniss," Effie gulps through her tears, "You are so beautiful!"

"Yes Katniss you are absolutely stunning." Joanna says. I lift up my dress so they can see the shoes and I twirl around, however a feeling of fear overcomes me in the middle of twirling as I feel like I have done this before and then I realise why I feel so scared. It reminds me of the time Caesar asked me to twirl in my interviews for the games and the quarter quell. Johanna sees the new look on my face and she comes and puts an arm around me,

"You're thinking about the interviews aren't you?" I nod my reply afraid if I open my mouth I will cry. Johanna continues to hug me and Effie realising the situation comes to hug me too, we stand there and hug for a few minutes before I decide to get out of my dress. The assistant leads me back to the changing area and helps me out of the dress. I quickly change into my clothes and grab the dress bag and boxes. I hurry out of the curtain and hand the boxes to Joanna; we thank the assistant and hurry out of the boutique. We hail a Taxi and ask the driver to take us back to the hotel. When we get there Joanna and I head to our room and Effie heads to hers. I feel the tears coming as I enter the room, I jump onto my bed and sob into the pillow.

"Katniss," Joanna says as she sits next to me on the bed, "Come on cheer up, are you still thinking about what happened at the dress shop?" she says whilst she wipes the tears from my eyes.

"I can't do it," I wail, "I knew being back here would trigger some kind of bad memory!"

"Come on Katniss, keep strong, tomorrow will be fine, we will have a nice time at the spa and then we can have a nice drink at a club." she says soothingly rubbing my back. And I can only hope she is right.

Peeta's P.O.V.

I can't believe Oliver got me to do shots! God I have never felt like this before and I never want to feel like this again. I'm glad Katniss will never see me like this! I don't think I'll get out of bed today; I'm just going to sleep all day. Aarrhhhggg, who is banging on the door at this hour? Slowly I get up, and walk down the stairs. I open up the door and find Haymitch and Oliver standing there, a slightly worried expression on their faces.

"Kid you need to look at this!" Haymitch says whilst grabbing my arm and dragging me in the direction of Effie's house.

"Haymitch what is all this about?" I moan as he pulls into Effie's House. Oliver begins to explain the situation,

"Well Effie said I could use her laptop whilst she was away and so I went online to see what's new and there was a picture on the Panem News site." He says handing me the laptop. The headline reads "Mockingjay to be Married." and below are pictures of Katniss, Joanna and Effie walking out of the Bridal Boutique. Somehow the journalist managed to get pictures of Katniss in the dress as well but Haymitch snatches it away before I can see those, you know it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in the dress before the big day.

"What, how, why?" I mumble "No one knew, just us, Katniss doesn't know about this does she?"

"God no, Oliver phoned Effie and so she and Joanna know but that is it, and they promised to make sure Katniss won't find out." Haymitch says reassuringly.

"But why would anyone want these pictures, why are the interested with us?" I ask still in disbelief.

"Well Kiddo, even though Panem has been changed for the better to the people you and Katniss are still the star crossed lovers of District 12 and even though they have left you alone for the past year, it was only a matter of time before they became interested in you again." Haymitch says bitterly,

"So you mean it'll never go away, people will always be fascinated with us?" I ask,

"No, they will leave you alone but not for a while, but they will be even more fascinated at the moment because of the wedding." Haymitch replies. I go and sit down and put my head in my hands, everything was perfect, and now everything is going wrong again. I can only hope that they don't get any more photos of Katniss whilst she is in the Capitol and that Haymitch is right and they will eventually leave us alone.

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**Thanks for reading, I will put the next chapter up tomorrow, I will make it extra long for the days I didn't update. Also thanks for reviewing :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, I am so sorry this wasn't up yesterday, I am having a bit of writers block but I'm excited about the next chapter and I will have it up soon! Again I am sooo sorry :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games**

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Chapter 10 Katniss' P.O.V.

The rest of the trip in the Capitol was okay, nothing major happened. We went to the spa and out to the club. I kept a smile on my face for Joanna and Effie's sake but I just kept thinking about how I would rather be with Peeta. I ended up counting down the hours until we had to be on the train back to District 12. I stare out the window for most of the journey, I can't sleep I'm too excited to be coming home. Peeta is waiting at the station with Oliver and even Haymitch is there too. As soon as my eyes find Peeta's through the train window I have to try to hold in a squeal of delight. It's only been 3 days since I last saw Peeta but it feels like a lifetime. When the conductor says it's safe to step of the train I grab my bags and run full throttle at Peeta, I launch myself into his arms and he picks me up and twirls me around. I forgotten how safe I feel in his arms, all my worries from the past few days are gone. He hugs me tight and breathes in the scent of my hair,

"I missed you so much!" I shriek,

"Oh my God Katniss, It's been 3 days, can you really not be apart for that long?" Joanna is already moaning and we have only been back in District 12 for 10 minutes. I let go of Peeta, tired of Joanna's nonstop moaning. I pick up my bags that I dropped when I flung myself into Peeta's arms take his hand and walk off towards the Victors Village.

*A Few Days Later*

I never thought I would day this but I have turned into a total brideZilla. I am getting obsessed over silly little things, the wedding is in exactly a month and I'm feeling like I'm running out of time. Effie and Joanna's bridesmaid dresses are arriving today so, I'm going to collect them and then head to Effie's so they can try them on to make sure they fit. It will be nice to get out of the house, as glad as I was to see Peeta he has been acting really weird, he won't let me use Effie's laptop to look up anything for the wedding and he won't let me watch Panem News without him in the room. He claims it's because he doesn't like to miss the news, and he is going to buy my won laptop soon so, I don't need to use Effie's. I love him but he has been acting really strange lately. When I think about it, everyone has been acting strange they are always really tense around me, like they're waiting for me to snap or find out something I shouldn't. Joanna I staying with Peeta and I so I go up to our spare room to rouse her, she doesn't usually get up before 10 am.

"Joanna, get up, you have to help me get your dress from the station." I say gently as I shake her awake.

"Mmmrrrnnn." Joanna moans. I place the plate of bacon and eggs I bought up for her under her nose and she instantly sits up.

"Thanks Katniss, I'll eat this get dressed and come down to the station with you." Joanna mumbles sleepily. I nod my head as I leave the room, I into mine and Peeta's room I grab my bag, keys and wallet and change into ballet pumps before I head downstairs to wait for Joanna.

Joanna comes down 10 minutes later,

"I was just going to check the news before we go out." I say flipping over the channel,

"No, no come on let's get out take a nice slow walk." Joanna says a touch of panic in my voice. She grabs the remote from my hand and switches of the TV and pulls me to my feet.

"Joanna I was going only going to watch it for 5 minutes!" I whine,

"I know, but I'm excited to try on my dress, please can we go now, please!" Joanna pleads like a little kid. I raise my eyebrows; Joanna is never excited to be wearing a dress, let alone a fancy gown. But I give in and walk to the station a bit early. Joanna chatters nonstop all the way to the station, it's about nothing really so I switch off. I just keep thinking about how Joanna seemed hell bent on not letting me watch the news, she is just like Peeta. God, why can't I watch the news, nothing that bad can have happened? Can it?

"So what do you think Katniss?" Oh no she asked me a question!

"Um what?" I mumble,

"Oh don't worry, it doesn't matter." then she goes on to talk about other trivial stuff, and then finally we reach the station. We pick up the boxes with the dresses, shoes and accessories and we head over to Effie's.

I ring the doorbell and I hear her shriek with delight as she realises the time has come for her to try on _her_ dress. She hurries to the door and ushers us inside. I hand Effie her box, Johanna already has hers and they start to change into their dresses. The dresses are hot pink in colour; they have a halter neck top and a puffy poodle skirt with turquoise and lime green netting under the skirt, like my dress. Their shoes are hot pink with little turquoise bows on the heels. They also have hair slides that are encrusted with pink, blue and green gemstones.

They both look absolutely stunning; Effie has become over excited and is jumping and twirling around. Joanna is just checking herself out in the mirror. I just sit there, watching them for a few minutes. The radio is a comforting noise in the background. The song on the radio ends and the presenter starts rambling on. But then something she says gets my attention,

"Ever since the pictures of Katniss Everdeen trying on her wedding dress emerged a few days ago, all you have been going totally Katniss crazy, I just hope they release some more pictures soon!" the presenter says perkily. My heart rate picks up and I feel like I want to scream. Effie and Joanna heard it; they are staring at me anticipation and panic on their faces,

"We are so sorry you found out this way?" Effie says her voice so high with panic I can barely hear it. I can't believe she knew, wait she said we that means Joanna also knew. But what if Haymitch and Oliver also know, or worse what if Peeta knew and didn't tell me. What am I saying of course they know, it's why they have been acting so weird. I am always the last one to know.

"What happened, how did they get my picture?" I ask still in shock.

"Well when I made the appointment with the boutique they asked for a name and I didn't think and I said Katniss Everdeen and the boutique must have contacted the press." Effie says apprehensively.

"We are so sorry Katniss, we only didn't tell you because we didn't want to freak you out before the wedding, but don't worry everything is going to be okay." Joanna says sitting down next to me on the couch. I don't say anything; I just sit there in shock. I just knew something would happen, something anything a sign to show me that getting married wasn't the right thing to do. Anyone else would be a little freaked by this but it wouldn't bother them that much. Me? I just don't know what to do, I just want to call the whole thing off and cry. I have to talk to Peeta, I just have too. I get up and run out of Effie's house. Effie and Joanna call after me begging me to come back but I keep running. I know Peeta won't be at home, he spends lots of time at the bakery now. So I keep running and I don't stop until I reach the Bakery, I've worked myself up into hysterics now.

"You knew!" I scream at him "You knew and you didn't tell me!" I break down into tears and instead of hitting him, which I feel like doing, I let him hold me as I know it is the only way I'm going to be able to calm down. I just scream and cry in his arms and he just holds me until I'm in a fit state to be talked to.

"Katniss, sshhh, come on everything is going to be okay, this doesn't change anything." he says soothingly as he rocks me back and forth.

"But this does change things, now people know we are getting married and they know we might have kids and now they will become obsessed with us again. And we may be roped into doing more TV appearances or Magazine shoots!" I croak through the tears.

"So what if we do, Katniss as long as we have each other it'll be okay." He says and I freeze. I can't believe he just said that, I thought he would be against the whole idea of us becoming "Celebrities" I just want a quiet life, with Peeta and the rest of my family. I don't want reporters popping up everywhere or Magazines doing specials on the birth of my children.

I can't do this, I just can't. I need to get some air. I force my way out of Peeta's arms and I start to run again. He calls after me, just like Joanna and Effie did, but I don't turn round. I just run. But this time I don't know where I am going. I don't run in any particular direction I just run, because I feel like if I don't get some space I might explode. I think about running to the woods, but I can't, I don't get that far. I reach the place where the Seam used to be, I run to the spot where my old house once stood. But now the rebuilding has got underway and there is a brick structure of a school where my house was. I walk through the structure. I find a class room and lean against the wall of it. I stand propped up against the wall for a few minutes it may even be several minutes before I slowly start to slide down the wall and fall into a heap on the floor.

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**I hope you enjoyed that, It took me longer to write than expected. Thank you for reading and as always please review :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, again I am really sorry, I haven't been in a very creative mood recently but that is no excuse, again I am sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**Discliamer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 11 Peeta's P.O.V.

I should have run after her, but when Katniss is like this nothing I say could do anything to make her see sense. I'll just stay here for a while and then go home; I'll talk to her there when she has calmed down. To pass the time I bake some cheese buns, Katniss' favourite. 2 hours pass and I decide that it will be safe to go back home. The evenings are becoming a bit lighter but it is still bitterly cold. When I arrive back in the Victors Village I am surprised to find that there are no lights on in our house. I walk up our porch and try to open the door, but I find that's it's locked, this is a bad sign. I get my keys out of my pocket and I open the door. I call out as I enter to let Katniss know I'm home but there is no reply. I check all the rooms in the house, twice, but Katniss is nowhere to be found. I head over to Haymitch's to see if he has seen her. I explain what happened to him, how Katniss freaked and ran off. But he hasn't seen her either. I'm starting to get really worried now. We head over to Effie's to ask her if she has seen Katniss. Joanna is there and so is Oliver and none of them have seen Katniss. We all start to really worry. We all go over to Greasy Sae's and ask her if she has seen Katniss and again she hasn't seen her. I start to panic, where is she? We all sit in my front room wondering who to call or what to do next.

"If only we had told her as soon as she got back, chances are she wouldn't have overreacted like this and everything would be okay." Haymitch grumbles.

"We have to go out and look for her!" I say forcefully. Everyone agrees we split up into 3 groups, me and Haymitch, Effie and Oliver, and Joanna and Greasy Sae.

Haymitch and I head towards where the Seam used to be. Joanna and Greasy Sae head into the town to look and Effie and Oliver stay around the Victors Village in case she comes back there.

"Don't worry Kid, we'll find her." Haymitch says reassuringly. I can only hope that we do find her before she does something stupid or something bad happens to her. We walk the rest of the way in silence, I'm in no mood to talk and Haymitch knows better than to try and strike up a conversation with me when I'm like this. I'm horrible in situations like this, everyone always tells you to think positively, but I can never do that. My mind always goes to the worst case scenario. What if… What if… What if. Eventually we arrive at the place where the Seam used to be, of course the new school structure stands there now. Haymitch walks past the school and heads towards the meadow but I stop, I have never really been a spiritual/superstitious person but it's almost as if I can sense that Katniss is nearer the School than the meadow.

"Come on boy!" Haymitch calls to me "Why are you just standing there!" But then we both hear it, a whimper. I run into the structure of the school and search through the rooms, I begin to give up. There is only one room left. I walk in not expecting to find anything, but there she is, huddled on the floor. I call out to Haymitch to let him know I've found her. I scoop her up into my arms, she stirs and clings tightly onto my shirt, but then she falls back into unconsciousness. Haymitch catches up to me and offers to help carry Katniss back to the Victors Village, but I can't help feeling responsible for what happened to her so I decline his offer of help. We continue the walk back in silence, around halfway Haymitch leaves me to go and find Greasy Sae and Joanna to tell them to stop searching. My gaze falls to Katniss' face, so beautiful. I love her so much; I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her again.

Katniss' P.O.V.

My eye lids flutter open. I am no longer on the floor of the school I am in Peeta's arms. It's so bitterly cold outside; I can't feel my fingers or toes.

"I'm sorry." I croak, he just shakes his head,

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry!" He replies, but now it's my turn to shake my head,

"I'm the one who overreacted, I understand now that you were only trying to protect me." I say as I cling on tighter to his shirt.

"Yes but, I should have been more understanding." He says softly,

"We were both wrong and now we are both sorry, shall we leave it at that?" I ask, he looks down at me and smiles,

"Yes, okay," He pauses before saying, "I love you." I smile and reply,

"I love you too." We spend the rest of the trip back in silence; I just snuggle deeper into his chest, and listen to his steady heartbeat. I wonder how he can carry me all this way, he makes it seem effortless. When we get home he carries me straight upstairs. I take a hot shower to help regain the feeling in my limbs while Peeta goes over to Effie's to tell them all I'm okay. I brush my teeth and brush my hair, I change into my pyjamas and I slide underneath the covers. I usually need Peeta with me to drift off but, after my little adventure today I fall asleep almost immediately. I fall into such a deep sleep that I don't dream, I just get a better nights rest than I have in weeks.

In the morning I snuggle with Peeta for a while before I decide it's time to get up and go see everyone to thank them in person for worrying about me and trying to find me. I go to Greasy Sae's first, she smiles when she sees me walking up her path, she hugs me and tells me she's glad I'm okay. We sit at her kitchen table and talk for a while. When I eventually hug her goodbye she hands me a dish covered in foil,

"It's a lamb stew. I thought you might not feel up to cooking." I smile and gratefully accept the dish,

"Thank you Sae, I really appreciate this." I smile and give her another hug before I leave and start to head over to Effie's. She also hugs me tightly. Joanna is at Effie's and when Effie finally lets go of me Joanna squeezes in a quick hug too. We chat for a few minutes, there are a few awkward silences, truth be told I still feel a bit embarrassed about the way I acted. I don't spend long with Effie and Joanna, because I really want to see Haymitch. After about 20 minutes I leave I really need to talk to Haymitch.

I leave Effie's and see Haymitch sitting on his front porch,

"Hey Kiddo." Haymitch says as I join him on the porch.

"Hi," I clear my throat "Um Haymitch I just wanted to say thank you for helping to find me yesterday."

"Don't worry about it, I understand why you reacted the way you did." He says putting a comforting arm around my shoulder

"Haymitch I also had something else I wanted to talk to you about." I say feeling a tad nervous now,

"Ask away Kiddo."

"Well I was wondering, because over the past year we have become closer, and you are like family to me now and so really what I wanted to ask you was, if you would give me away?" I ask, Haymitch's eyes become misty,

"Katniss, you really want me to give you away?" he asks, I nod and then he pulls me into hug. I haven't seen Haymitch this happy in forever. Our embrace is interrupted by the honking of Haymitch's geese. We both laugh and he gets up to feed the honking Geese, then we hear Effie's trill shriek,

"Haymitch Abernathy, I warned you about those geese, this is your second strike, one more and you will be eating those geese for dinner!" Haymitch and I just laugh because we both know that Effie couldn't really kill the geese, she isn't that cruel. I help Haymitch feed the geese and then I return home. Peeta is there in the kitchen baking as per usual. I grab one of the freshly baked cheese buns of the side, he pretends to smack my hand away, I grab another one and he just laughs, I sit on the counter and watch him bake, he asks me to taste stuff from time to time. Then he asks me to help him make cookies, but I think we end up getting more of the ingredients on ourselves rather than in the bowl. Peeta puts the cookies on the oven, and I go upstairs to wash the flour out of my hair. By the time I get downstairs the Cookies have cooled and Peeta has iced them, he hands me one that has a love heart iced on it, in the heart are the initials P M + K E,

"It's almost too nice to eat!" I laugh as I take a bite out of it, Peeta laughs too,

"I thought you said it was too nice to eat." He says as he picks up another cookie, I giggle,

"I said almost." I say, he rolls his eyes and I start to giggle again. It's hard to believe this time yesterday I was all freaked out about the wedding and reporters. This moment right here, with Peeta and me, seems perfect and I can't even remember why the pictures bothered me that much in the first place. I do know one thing though; I have to learn how to control my temper, my overreaction could have had serious consequences. I could have got seriously sick if Peeta hadn't of found me that soon. On the other hand I hope there are no more occasions where I could lose my temper.

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**I hope you enjoyed that, It took me longer to write than anticipated, I'm sorry about that, again i hope you liked it and please review :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello, a bit of a short chapter but the next few will be longer, I hope you enjoy this and please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 12 Effie's P.O.V

*One Month Later*

Tomorrow is Katniss' wedding day, it has finally arrived. I have worked so hard on this wedding. I just want her and Peeta to have the best day imaginable. They have had such a hard time; they deserve to have something good happen. I know Katniss appreciates my efforts, but she does not have the longest patients and she gets frustrated quite easily. She has no choice but to help today though because I ordered all the boys away so she has no excuse or distraction.

Katniss' P.O.V.

Tomorrow is my wedding day, it has finally arrived. Today Effie, Joanna, Sae and I are making sure everything is ready. Despite being the bride I don't actually know an awful lot about what's going to happen tomorrow, Effie planned most of the day. All I know is that I have to be up at 6 tomorrow, to get my hair and makeup done.

I insisted we had the actual ceremony outside, even though it is the end of February. Eventually Effie agreed and so the ceremony will take place in mine and Peeta's back yard. Effie ordered in this spectacular wedding arch that has flowers twined around it. There is a red carpet with flower petals scattered on it and the chairs have a mixture of blue, green and pink satin bows tied around them. She had all of the furniture cleared out of mine and Peeta's front room, to make way for the tables and to have some floor space to dance. She also made sure that we could still access the fire so we could do the toasting after the ceremony. The tables are round and they are covered in white table cloths with pink flowers on it. In the centre of the table there are clear vases with Pink lilies in them and pink, green and blue stones at the bottom. There are 4 place settings to a table and the plates are white china with flower patterns. On the plates in little velvet bags are the favours. The bags contain a cookie which Peeta baked and a little wooden heart with the date of the wedding carved into it. I didn't think I would actually be this excited. I can't wait. My dress is hanging in Effie's spare room where I am staying tonight; my shoes and veil are in a box on the floor by the dress.

Effie has got caterers from the Capitol, and she promised they would make my favourite lamb stew with the dried plums. I thought she would get a hair and makeup specialist from the Capitol too, but she wanted to do it herself and I have no problem with that. Effie is spectacular at that kind of thing. Haymitch asked if the Geese could be at the wedding, I thought that was a great idea, but a certain Miss Trinket took some convincing. In the end she gave in, but she insisted that the geese be dressed appropriately so each goose will have a coloured ribbon tied loosely around its neck.

I lean against the back wall if my house hoping to catch a few minutes of peace before Effie gets me to double check the place settings or make sure the bows are tied properly on the back of the chairs. I sigh when I think about how little time I have spent with Peeta recently, when someone grabs me from behind and pulls me round the side of the house out of the sight of the others. I am about to scream for help, but I soon realise it is Peeta who has grabbed me so I playfully smack his arm and laugh. He twirls me round so I am facing him and then gently kisses me.

"I though Effie told you to stay away today, and anyway you are supposed to be in the bakery working on the cake!" I say, I try to make it sound like I'm annoyed but it's just so good to see him.

"Don't worry, I'll have the cake finished, and as for Effie what she doesn't know can't hurt her." he says before pulling me into another kiss. We kiss for I don't know how long, but we are interrupted by Effie calling for me,

"Looks like I have to go." I say irritation creeping into my voice, he looks right into my eyes and smiles,

"You know the next time I see you it will be at the altar." I was going to reply by saying the corny line, I'll be the one in white but I can feel Effie's pointy nails digging into my back as she forcefully pulls me of Peeta,

"Peeta I specifically told you not come over here and distract Katniss!" Effie says as she trys to pull me away.

"Sorry Ef, I'm going now I just had to talk to Katniss about something." He winks at me and I feel my cheeks blushing.

"Yeah it looked like talking." Effie mutters under her breath.

I don't want him to leave, I reach out and grab his T-shirt and I dig my heels into the ground. Effie is just as stubborn as I am though and she won't let go of me.

"Effie please let go!" I wail "I just want 5 more minutes with Peeta!" I feel her grip loosen and then she lets go of me all together. But when she lets go I am still holding on to Peeta's T-shirt and so I fall into Peeta, knocking him over so we both end up on the ground in fits of laughter. Effie rolls her eyes,

"5 Minutes not a minute more, I'll be back!" she warns us. Peeta stands up and then helps me to my feet.

"Peeta," I say as sweetly as I can whilst batting my eyelids,

"Yes," He replies knowing I want something,

"Please can you tell me about the cake?" I say with a big smile, he just laughs.

"You know the deal, I agreed to make the cake, but only if I could keep it a surprise for you!" that was the deal, but I hate surprises, obviously I know the cake will be amazing, but there is something about not knowing that bugs me.

"I know." I wail,

"And anyway I have to wait to see your dress, so you have to wait to see the cake." he says softly, placing a stray hair behind my ear.

"But that's different, it's bad luck for the groom to see the dress or the bride in the dress before the big day, there are no superstitions about cake!" I whine, he just laughs and pulls me in for another kiss. after what I asses to be a minute or two I pull away knowing Effie will be returning soon.

"Got tired of arguing?" I ask, he smiles,

"Something like that."

"Katniss Everdeen your time is up, those Napkins aren't going to fold themselves!" Effie says, she is by my side now trying to lead me away. This time I don't try and protest, I smile at Peeta and turn to walk back with Effie.

"I love you." He shouts to me, I look over my shoulder, blow him a kiss and shout back,

"I love you too."

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**I hope you liked that! I need to ask you guys something, I was thinking about changing the rating of this story to Teen and I was wondering if that would be okay with you all? It wouldn't that bad but i want to be safe rather than sorry, I don't want to offend anyone, if that makes sense. Let me know what you think in your reviews, if you don't review anything i'll assume you're okay with it. Thank you all so much for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Helllo, I have been writing all day and I have two chapters for you, this is the first. I hope you enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 13 Katniss' P.O.V.

I am sitting with Effie, Annie and Joanna in Effie's living room. We are all in our pyjamas, eating pizza and watching girly movies. Annie's little boy is asleep upstairs, she named him Rory, he is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, he has Finnick's eyes. The film we are watching finishes and whilst Effie changed the disk, Joanna and I get some more snacks from the Kitchen.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow night?" Johanna asks,

"Tomorrow night, the ceremony is in the morning." I reply slightly confused. Johanna just laughs,

"Katniss, don't pretend to be so innocent, you know what I'm talking about." She says with a smirk,

"I'm sorry Johanna, but I really have no clue what you are talking about!" I say frustrated, why can't she just tell me what she means!

"Katniss, what happens on a couple's wedding night?" she says slowly. Then something in my brain clicks and I suddenly realises what she is referring too. I had never even thought about it until she said it, and she is right, I am nervous now, very nervous. My cheeks are blushing and Johanna knows I have realised what she is talking about. She just laughs and puts an arm round my shoulders,

"Kat, I was joking, there is no need to be nervous about the wedding or the wedding night, everything is going to be fine." I still can't stop worrying though. We bring the snacks back through to the others, and watch another film. Rory wakes up halfway through, I offer to go check on him though because I love being around him. I gently pick him up and cradle him in my arms. I rock him gently until his cry ceases and I put him back in the crib. I turn around and am surprised to Annie in the doorway.

"You're a natural with him." she says softly walking over to join me by the crib.

"Oh thank you, I like to around him he calms me." I say as I reach down to stroke the top of Rory's head.

"You have nothing to be worried about, Katniss, Joanna told us about your conversation in the kitchen, and I felt the exact same way before I married Finnick." she says looking into my eyes so I know she is telling the truth and not just saying it to make me feel better. But I still have to ask,

"You did?"

"Yes, but tomorrow when you walk down the aisle and you see Peeta smiling at you, all of the feelings of anxiety will go away and you will only feel love and excitement." She replies with nothing but sincerity. I pull her into a tight hug,

"Thank you Annie." We break our hug and return downstairs, we finish watching the film and then we all head up to bed, Annie is in one room with Rory. Joanna and I are sharing one room and Effie is in her room.

Johanna falls asleep straight away, but I can't seem to drift off. I just stare at my dress, and then at the clock and then the celling. I'm still nervous but I am also excited and that is not a good combination of feelings when you're trying to sleep. Then my mind wonders to Peeta, I wonder if he is still awake probably. I get up to go look out of the window. The little window at the top of our house has light streaming out of it which means Peeta is up. He is in the attic painting, which he does when he can't sleep. Somehow knowing that Peeta is still awake calms me, I slide back in next to Johanna being careful not to disturb her, and I drift off into a peaceful sleep.

*Next Morning*

I am woken up by my best friend, Johanna Mason, jumping up and down on the bed yelling at me to get up because it's my wedding day. It is 6 AM the time we promised Effie we would be up. Slowly I get up, take a shower and brush my teeth. I go back into the spare room and let Johanna know she can use the bathroom. Effie has laid out some special lingerie for me even though I told her my own under wear is perfectly fine. I don't want to upset Effie so I reluctantly put on the lingerie, I then put a robe on over the top so Effie can start on my hair and makeup. I sit at her dressing table and watch as she curls my hair and places the tiara on my head, she then moves onto my makeup, it's nothing too heavy, just a base of foundation with a hint of eye shadow and blusher, mascara and lip gloss. Sitting here reminds me of the day Peeta proposed. Effie did my hair and makeup that day too, although then I didn't know what I was getting dressed up for. When Effie finishes me, she gets a reluctant Joanna to sit down and have her make up done. Joanna has done her own hair and it looks extremely pretty, her shoulder length hair is half up and half down, the half up part is being kept in place by the hair slides that are encrusted with pink, blue and green gemstones. After she finishes with Johanna's makeup she moves onto her own. They both look so beautiful. When they are both ready, Annie comes and joins us and they help me into my dress.

Waiting is the worst, we are already by 11 AM and the ceremony isn't due to start until 11:30 AM. I can't even go outside and help or meet guests in case Peeta sees me. Effie is out making sure everything is Perfect, Annie and Rory are with all the other guests so it's just Joanna and me. She tries her best to keep me occupied but I can't seem to concentrate on anything. It's only half an hour but it seems to go on forever, when finally I hear Effie come in,

"It's time!" She shrieks, it's my wedding and I think she is more excited than I am. A sudden feeling of panic consumes me, I look over to Joanna she squeezes my hand and gives a slight nod to let me know everything will be alright. Effie hands me my bouquet and Johanna hers, then we all make our way over to my house, Joanna and Effie trying to hold up the bottom of my dress so that it doesn't get dirty. Haymitch is waiting on the porch for us; I put my arm through his and try to focus on breathing,

"You look like a million bucks Kiddo." He says giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, is he nervous, did he talk about me last night?" I ask, Haymitch chuckles,

"No he isn't nervous, and yes he did talk about you, a lot." I smile and then the music starts, First Effie walks down the aisle, then its Johanna's turn. Finally the Time comes for Haymitch and me to walk. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and try to calm myself and before I know it, I am at the stat of the aisle stating at the Perfect man at the altar, who will be all mine in less than an hour.

Peeta's P.O.V.

I know it's tradition to stand facing forward, so you can't see your bride until she meets you at the altar, but I can't do that. I have to see her as soon as she appears at the top of the aisle. First Effie comes down the aisle, then Johanna, and Finally its Katniss' turn. She looks so breathtakingly beautiful, her hair loose, the gorgeous wedding gown, the tiara and veil everything about her is perfect and I cannot believe this amazing woman will be all mine in less than an hour.

Katniss' P.O.V.

Why do brides have to walk all weird? Left, together, right together. It takes 10 times longer than if I was walking normally. Because I am walking like this, the trip down the aisle is an agonizingly long one. Eventually we arrive at the altar and Haymitch hands me too Peeta,

"You treat her good boy, or you'll have me to answer too." Haymitch says, he tries to sound serious but he knows Peeta would never to anything to hurt me, but I appreciate Haymitch's fatherly attempt. I give Peeta a quick hug and then the ceremony gets under way,

"Dearly beloved we are gathered here today…" I wait patiently whilst we go through all the necessary stuff, but then comes the bit I am most nervous about, the vows. Peeta wanted us to write our own vows and I agreed but I can't for the life of me remember why because I hate speaking publically. Peeta goes first,

"Katniss, I have loved you since I first saw you. We have been through some tough times but we got through them together, and when people were determined to keep us apart we came back together, stronger than we ever were before. You are not only my soul mate you are my best friend and I don't ever want to be apart from you. I love you more than anything and I can't wait to start spending the rest of my life with you." I started crying, halfway through his vow, they are happy tears, but now it's my turn and I am never going to be able to say something as spectacular as that!

"Peeta, there are no words to describe what you mean to me. You are the love of my life. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. I love you so much it hurts, and I want to be with you every minute of every day until the day I die." Then the official asks both Peeta and me if we take each other to be husband and wife,

"Katniss, do you take Peeta to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"And Peeta, do you take Katniss to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"By the power invested in me, by the nation of Panem, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Peeta pulls me in for a kiss and the guests clap and cheer. Haymitch wolf whistles and out of the corner of my eye I see Effie playfully smack him on the arm. Peeta takes my hand and we walk back up the aisle.

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**AAAWWW, I LOVE weddings! I hope you guys liked that, I enjoyed writing it! And thank you for the the lovely reviews, it really means a lot to me that you like this Fanfiction, I love you all! Anyway, thanks for reading and please review :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello, this is the second chapter i worte today, I hope you enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 14 Katniss' P.O.V.

Mrs Katniss Mellark. It sounds right. We are all in our house now, Peeta and I walk round to each table to chat with the guests and thank them for coming. We invited all of those who returned to District 12, and we invited some special guests like Annie, Delly Cartwright, Beetee and Dr Aurelius. Firstly we chat to Delly,

"I'm so glad things worked out for you guys." She says as she pulls Peeta and me into a hug,

"And Katniss you look so beautiful!"

"Thank you Delly, you look good too." we chat with Delly for a while but she has been back in District 12 for a quite a long time now so there is not much to catch up on. Next we talk to Beetee,

"Thank you for inviting me to your wedding." Beetee says quietly,

"Thank you for coming, we hope you enjoy it." I say patting his hand,

"Oh I have and I will continue too." I love Beetee, he is so sweet. Finally we talk to Dr Aurelius,

"Katniss, Peeta, its lovely to see you so happy!" Dr A. says shaking Peeta's hand and giving me a quick hug.

"Thank you for coming, Dr, and I'm sorry I never called you." I say sincerely,

"Please call me Mark and Katniss don't feel bad about not calling me, it looks like you didn't need my help." Dr A- Mark says softly. Peeta continues to talk to Mark about how his Flashbacks have almost stopped altogether and I walk back to my seat at the head table. Peeta joins me and soon after that the caterers serve dinner, and as she promised the main course is lamb stew with dried plums.

After Dinner there are the speeches, thankfully the bride does not have to make a speech so I can sit back and relax. Well I thought I could relax, but I forgot that Haymitch was going to give a speech and so that means he is going to try his best to embarrass me.

"I'm not good at speaking so I'm going to keep this short, Katniss and Peeta I have never seen a love as strong as yours, I hope you live a long and Happy life together." Haymitch says his eyes becoming a little misty. I am pleasantly surprised; I expected rude jokes and embarrassing stories from Haymitch, not moving words. I stand up and give haymitch a hug. Then he whispers in my ear something I never thought he would say,

"I love you Kiddo, you are like a daughter to me."

"I love you too Haymitch." I whisper back. Next Peeta gives his speech then Effie and Johanna say a few words.

Then the time comes for me to finally see my wedding cake. It is the most beautiful cake I have ever seen. It is a 3 tired cake, with raspberry jam between the layers. It is covered in white chocolate and has flowers painted on it. It looks so beautiful I don't want to cut it. But we do cut it together and then everyone else helps themselves to a piece. Then Effie announces it is time for the first dance. Peeta twirls me out onto the floor and pulls me closer to him, I rest my head on his shoulder my arms around his waist.

"Have you had a good day?" He asks,

"I have had an amazing day!" I reply before I give him a kiss. I can hear all the guests say ahhh, but I block them out, I just want this moment to be about Peeta and me. I never want it to end. But of course the song ends and so does the moment. Next I dance with Haymitch, he isn't much of a dancer and so we just stay in the same spot shuffling our feet from side to side. Then all the guests take to the floor. I dance with Joanna and Effie for a bit, I also sit with Annie for a while so I can hold Rory some more. I look up from Rory and catch Peeta staring at me from across the room, he smiles, and I smile back. I know we are too young to have children and we have only just got married, but holding Rory in my arms makes me change my mind about wanting children. I know I always said I never wanted children but that was when there were still the games. It was also when everyone believed it would marry Gale, maybe it was Gale. I think part of the problem was that I didn't want children with him. But Peeta, Peeta is different I know he is going to make a wonderful father when the time comes.

I hand Rory back to Annie and I walk over to Peeta, I drag him out onto the dance floor, and I pull him close. We stay on the dance floor for the rest of the night, I pull him close and we just sway to the music, oblivious to everyone around us. We break apart when some of the guests begin to leave so we can say goodbye. Over the next hour most of the remaining guests leave, until it's just Effie, Oliver, Haymitch, Beetee, Annie and Joanna.

"We are all going to take off now." Effie says trying to give the others a hint.

"You two kids have fun now." Haymitch says as he gets up, Beetee follows him as he is staying with Haymitch. Then the others get up leave, Effie whispers _'be careful'_ in my ear when she gives my hug good bye, I think she must be referring to the activities she thinks Peeta and I will be getting up to later. Oliver thanks us both for inviting him and he follows Effie out. Annie gives me a hug and thanks us both she then follows Effie back to her house. Joanna is the last to leave she hugs both me and Peeta and then on her way out she turns and winks at me. I roll my eyes and poke my tongue out at her.

Then there is an awkward moment, we both know what's going to happen but neither one of knows who is going to make the first move. After a few more awkward moments I turn round and say,

"I love you." He takes a step closer to me and says,

"I love you too." Now it's my turn to take a step closer. We are in touching distance now, in the end I can't resist the temptation and I move into to kiss him. He kisses me back. Then we break apart and I start to play with his tie, and then I say as seductively as I can,

"Come on lover boy." I lead him upstairs into our bedroom by his tie and then I close the door.

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**Well, They finally got hitched! I'm thinking about doing the next chapter in a few years time so i can start to write about Katniss and Peeta starting a family. Tell me what you think in your reviews. Thank you all so much for reading! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, This was kind of hard to write but i have lots of ideas for the next few chapters, so read on, I Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 15 Katniss' P.O.V.

I wake up in the morning with the biggest smile on my face. I still can't believe I am now married to this amazing man lying next to me. I roll onto my side and place my head on his chest so I can listen to his steady heartbeat. He kisses the top of my head and strokes my hair.

"We have to get up soon or we will miss our train." He says as he tries to sit up. I push him back down and silence his protests with kisses. He kisses me back, but then he breaks away and gets up.

"You should be excited we are going on our honeymoon." he says pulling me up.

"I am excited, but it's early and I hate going on the train." I whine, Peeta just laughs,

"Well if you hadn't of screamed at Effie the last time she took you out for a driving lesson, you could have been able to drive us to District 4." I scowl and he just laughs even more,

"You could have gone out for lessons with Effie too." He just ignores me and goes into the bathroom. I get up and go over to the closet. I pull my suitcase off the top and start to pack my clothes in first then Peeta's. I lay out some clothes for him to wear today, and some clothes I will wear. When he is done in the bathroom I use it. He isn't in our room when I come out of the shower, but I can smell bacon so I know he is only downstairs making breakfast. I braid my hair, get dressed and finish packing. I lug the suitcase downstairs, and leave it by the front door.

"Eat up we have a long day ahead of us," Peeta tells me as I walk into the kitchen. I nod, and we sit down to eat. We talk about what we want to do in District 4; we are staying for 4 nights because Peeta has to get back to the bakery. But we still have 3 whole days in 4. We finish eating and I help him wash up. He tells me to wait here while he fetches something from Effie's. I wait patiently then I hear a car's engine rev and I hear Peeta call me. I run out onto the front porch and see Peeta in the car Effie bought for us.

"You can drive?!" I ask in shock. He gets out of the car and joins me on the porch,

"Yes, I got lessons from Effie secretly so I could surprise you. I know how much you hate using the train so I thought it would be a nice surprise for you." He says sheepishly.

"You spent time with Effie screaming at you in a confined space, for me?" I ask still in shock,

"Yes, I'd do anything for you Katniss, I love you!" he says placing a lock of my hair behind my ear. I stand there for a second taking in what he just said. It's not like I didn't already know it, but hearing him say it aloud was different. Ever since the rebellion I have always wondered if Peeta did feel the same way he felt in the first games, where he would do anything to keep me alive.

"Do you really mean that, you would do anything?" I ask looking into his sparkling blue eyes,

"Anything." He says with a smile. I launch myself into his arms and he twirls me around, I giggle and he laughs too.

"Shall we get going now?" He asks as he puts me back on the ground,

"Yes, I want to spend some time with you, without Effie or Haymitch poking their noses in our business." I say giving him one more kiss before we set off. The drive takes longer than the train ride would, but it's nice just Peeta and me. We talk, we stop for gas and snacks, and eventually I fall asleep. I try to stay awake so Peeta has some company but I feel my eye lids becoming heavy and before I know it I have drifted off. I am woken up by Peeta gently shaking my shoulder.

"Katniss honey," He says gently, "We're here." I open my eyes and smile. I love District 4. Our hotel is on the seafront, and Annie only lives 5 minutes down the road. We get the suitcase from the boot and head into the lobby of the hotel. This hotel is amazing, it is so grand. We check in and go straight up to the room,

"What do you want to do?" Peeta asks me,

"Honestly." I ask raising my eyebrows,

"Honestly." He replies taking my hands in his.

"I want to go and see Rory and Annie, I know it's our honeymoon and we are supposed to be spending time together bu-" He interrupts me with a kiss, and then he says,

"I think going to visit Rory and Annie is a great idea." I quickly unpack our stuff and then we get going to Annie's. She is sitting on her front porch when we pull up, Baby Rory on her lap.

"Katniss, Peeta!" She says walking towards us.

"Annie, I've missed you!" I say as I pull her into an awkward hug with baby Rory in-between us. She laughs,

"It's only been a week, since I last saw you at the wedding!" she says as she hands Rory over to me so she can give Peeta a proper hug. I hug Rory close to me and breathe in his baby scent. I rock him gently and he reaches out with his chubby baby wrist and tugs on a lock of my hair.

"Oh watch him; he is in a grabbing stage." Annie says when she sees Rory tugging on my hair.

"It's okay," I say in between making cooing noises at Rory, "Whatever makes him happy!" I tickle Rory on the stomach and he laughs. We all go inside and Annie makes us some tea, I still have Rory in my arms.

"So what have you two got planed then?" Annie asks as she hands Peeta his tea,

"Well we thought we would go to the beach and then go on the pier. Maybe we'll do some shopping, just generally being together." Peeta says as he puts an arm around me. Annie's eyes become misty, she must be thinking about Finnick.

"I remember when Finnick and I were like you two," she reminisces "It didn't matter where we were or what we were doing as long as we were together." a tear escapes down her cheek and I hand Rory to Peeta so I can go and console her.

"I wish he was here." she sobs into my shoulder,

"I know, I do too, but look at what you got out of your relationship, a beautiful, healthy baby boy," she looks up first at me and then at Rory. He smiles at her and extends his arms towards her. Peeta hands him over to her and he calms her instantly, just like he calms me. We stay for a while longer and then we leave, even though I slept in the car I am tired and Annie seems to be a bit embarrassed after she broke down in tears.

The car ride back to the hotel is silent and we don't say much when we are getting ready for bed. I slide into bed and he slides in text to me, I snuggle into him and her turns of the light. I am just about to drift off when Peeta whispers to me in the darkness,

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life."

"I don't know what would do if I didn't have you." I whisper back.

"I love you so much, seeing Annie like that today just reminded me of how lucky I am to have you." he whispers, I turn so I am facing him and say,

"No, I'm the lucky one, I don't deserve you, I never have, and yet somehow I still have you." he shakes his head,

"We could go on like this forever, each of us giving a reason why we don't deserve each other."

"Shall we just agree to love each other forever and ever and to never leave, even when it's really though and leaving is the easiest option?" I ask, he turns his head so he can look me in the eyes and says,

"I will always love you, and I would never think about leaving you."

"And I will always love you and never leave you." I say staring deep into his eyes. He strokes my cheek and then leans in for a kiss, I kiss him back and in my head I see fireworks. This is just the most perfect moment and I would be quite happy to live in it forever.

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**I hope you liked that. I'm really sorry guys but I won't be able to update until Friday 24th/Saturday25th August because I am going away. But what i will do is write the chapters up by hand and then type them up when i get back so there could be a few for you in a weeks time. I am so sorry! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, it is a great feeling when you get nice reviews. Again I am sorry and i will promise you will get the next chapters as soon as i get back :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, I am back from my holiday! I didn't get to write as much as i would have liked, but i will post another chapter tomorrow, i hope you like this one!So please read on...**

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Chapter 16 

Peeta's P.O.V.

I watch her through the gap between the door and the door frame. I'm still lying in bed but she got up about 10 minutes ago. She wants to go to the beach today. When we were at Annie's yesterday she told us about this little beach that not many people know about, and as its out of season the people that do know about it probably won't be there so we should have the whole beach to ourselves. She hasn't noticed me looking yet, I'm not staring at her in a creepy way; I'm just admiring my wife's beauty. She's just got out of the shower and I can see the water droplets glistening on her body. She dries herself off and then towel dries her hair. She twists her head round to braid her hair and she catches my eye through the gap he cheeks flush pink and she quickly grabs a towel. It's not like I haven't seen her naked before but she stills gets embarrassed quite easily. She kicks the door so the gap closes and I can no longer see her, I just chuckle to myself and slowly rise out of bed. I pull open the cupboard over the bed and take out a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Katniss will pack everything else we need; she has too otherwise she panics that I will have forgotten to pack something.

She emerges from the bathroom and quietly says to me that I can use it now. I can tell that she is still a tad embarrassed about earlier. I quickly shower whilst she packs a bag for us to take to the beach. She always over packs, I know that she will put a sketch book and pencils in the bag in case I want to sketch the beach. I also know that she will pack at least 3 books and she won't even finish one of them. When I come out of the bathroom she isn't embarrassed anymore, she is just telling me about all the things she has packed.

"I put in sun cream, but do you think I need to put the after sun in too?" She asks me as she is studying the sun cream and after sun bottles. I just chuckle.

"Katniss, we can put the after sun on when we get back to the hotel." I say as I take the bottles from her hands and place the sun cream in the bag and the after sun back into the bathroom. I thought she had calmed down then she started to fret about other trivial things,

"But what about food, I mean this beach is pretty secluded we will have to bring our own. But we don't have any! Oh wait we do have the mini bar, do you think we can afford to take some of the food from there?" She asks, I walk back over to her, take both her hands in mine and say softly,

"Katniss breathe, we can afford the stuff in the mini bar and you have packed everything, so please just calm down and enjoy today." She takes a deep breath,

"You're right, I just need to relax." And she does, we follow the instructions Annie gave us and we arrive at the beach at around 10 AM. That means we can spend nearly all day here. I can spend a lovely day with my lovely wife.

Katniss' P.O.V.

I get out the large towels I packed and place them on the soft sand. Annie was right; we are the only ones on the beach. I like it better this way though, just Peeta and me, in our own little world. We sit on the towels, he sketches and I read, well I flick through certain parts of the book. I've already read it so I just like to re-read my favourite parts. Every so often Peeta looks up at me. I'm used to him staring at me he says he's admiring my beauty, however today his stares are different they are more concentrated and then I realise what he is doing. He is sketching me, he can of course sketch me from memory but he likes to look at me to make sure the sketch is perfect.

"Peeta."

"mmm" he replies not really listening,

"Please can you stop sketching me, you know I don't like it." I ask politely,

"No, you are beautiful and I want to be able to remember the moment forever and by sketching it I can." he says without even looking up,

"Well can I at least see it then?" I moan, he sighs and looks up,

"It isn't finished yet, can you wait until it's done?"

"No I want to see it now!" I wail rather childishly as I snatch the sketch book from his hand, the picture is of me on the beach as I suspected. I think it's wonderful like all of his pictures. I am about to hand it back to him when I notice another sketch of me on the next page. I am not alone in the picture because I am holding baby Rory in my arms,

"When did you draw this?" I ask a little stunned, I never thought I would look so happy with a baby.

"Last night, I couldn't sleep, you looked so happy with Rory, I thought it might be nice to draw it," he sees my expression and adds, "I'm sorry, you don't mind do you?" I sit and think for a second before answering. Do I mind? I'm not entirely sure, I mean yes the thought of having children still freaks me out a little bit, but whenever I'm near Rory I can't seem to remember why I am so scared of having children. I don't want them just yet; I am still only a Teenager but someday maybe.

"No, I don't mind, I just never thought I would look so…" I think carefully about the words I use "So natural with a baby." He just smiles and takes back his sketch book, he then continues sketching. I sit and think for a bit. I try to imagine actually having a child of my own, I try my hardest to picture Peeta with his arm around me and a baby in my arms and when I do I think it looks perfect. But then my mind wanders to what might happen as the child grows up, what if the Games start up again? Me being the face of the rebellion and Peeta and I being victors means that our child will almost certainly end up in them. Then I can't stop thinking about our children and the Games. I see a little girl with blonde curls and grey eyes, running towards the cornucopia, when suddenly a girl older and bigger than her jumps on her and brings a knife to her face, much like Clove did tome in the first Games.

Peeta's soft snoring brings me out of my daydream or should I say day-mare. I look over and see that he has dozed off. I don't want to disturb him, so quietly I get up and walk over to the water's edge. I am wearing my swim suit under my blouse and shorts so I just strip them off and throw them towards Peeta. I dip my toe into the water and shudder, it was freezing. I venture a little further into the water. I get up to a point where I am knee deep but I can't take the cold any longer and I run back. I stand at the water edge again, staring out at the sea. The sea here is a lovely colour, turquoise, it almost seems to shimmer. Suddenly I feel Peeta pick me up from behind, I shriek with laughter as he spins me around. I look up at Peeta, he has a mischievous look in his eyes, and I immediately know what he is thinking.

"Peeta please no!" I shriek, he laughs and wades deeper in the ocean,

"Katniss, afraid of a little water?" He asks going deeper in still,

"Peeta, please it's freezing, if you love me you will not throw me in this wat-." but it's too late he's let go of me and I fall kicking and screaming into the freezing cold water. I surface to find Peeta in fits of giggles, I slam my fists hard into his chest and he falls backwards into the water. Now it's my turn to giggle, he surfaces coughing and spluttering.

"What was that for?!" he asks through the coughing,

"It was only fair, you did it to me." I say defensively,

"I did do it to you." He says as he pulls me close to him, I lean in for a kiss, he kisses me back. We kiss for what seems like forever, but it's not enough. I pull myself closer into him with such force he falls backwards and we both end up in the sea. we surface laughing, I stand up first and then I help him to his feet. We walk hand in hand back to our stuff. He wraps a towel around my shoulders and hugs my close to help me get warm.

"You know it's a scientifically proven fact that kissing helps a human regain heat." I say pulling myself closer to him, he chuckles,

"Well if that's the case," He says softly placing a lock of damp hair behind my ear, "I think we better test it, to see if it is true."

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**I Hope you liked that! I really enjoyed writing it, I really missed writing for you all. I have another romancy Katniss/Peeta chapter coming up, i know you guys like that. If you're in the UK, are you counting down the days until september 3rd? I know I am, haha. Anyway I hope you liked that and please review! :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello, I promised you another Chapter and here it is! I Hope you like it. So please read on :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 17

Katniss' P.O.V.

I roll down the car window so I can feel the wind in my hair. Peeta and I packed up our things on the beach, because I wanted to see the pier on the main beach at night. We arrive back at our hotel and quickly shower and change, the salt water makes my hair feel horrible so I wash my hair 3 times to make sure any reminisce of the salt is gone. I dry my hair with the hair dryer the hotel provided, and leave it loose rather than braid it. My hair is naturally wavy; it isn't just the braid that makes it go that way. I decide to wear a dress; it is orange and made of soft, floaty material that stops at my knees. I won't be doing much walking so I put on a pair of gold sandals with a wedge heel. They were Effie's, but she only wore them once then decided she didn't like them anymore. Being from the Capitol her first thought was to throw them away, but I grew up in District 12 where you don't throw away anything unless it's broken, so I thought there was no point throwing away a perfectly good pair of shoes so I asked Effie if I could have them. When I walk out of the bathroom Peeta does a double take,

"Do I look okay?" I ask as I twirl round,

"You look stunning." He says with a smile, and then he takes my hand and leads me out the door.

The pier looks magical at night. It is lit up by the lights of the fairground attractions. I stand at the entrance mouth gaping open completely in awe. Peeta tugs on my arm,

"Come on Katniss, lets go have some fun!" I snap out of my daze and follow him onto the pier. We decide to go on the rides first. The first ride we go on is called the Tilt-a-Whirl. I love going on the rides, the rush of adrenaline you get from twirling around upside down at high speeds. Peeta on the other hands looks rather green when he gets off, and I have to steady him.

"Maybe we should try a gentler ride next?" I say as I rub his back. He just nods and tries to straighten up. After that we go on all the tamer rides and we finally end up on the Ferris Wheel. I snuggle close to him as we go round. On our first rotation we stop at the top because people are getting off at the bottom. I stretch my legs out and then bring them back in, and then I stretch them out again and bring them back in. I feel Peeta tense up beside me,

"Katniss," he says panic creeping into his voice, "Please don't rock the cart." I turn my head to look at him, his eyes are already fixated on me.

"Peeta are you afraid of heights?" I ask him, he can't look away, because if he is afraid of heights looking at the ground won't help him much. He stares at me for a while before finally answering,

"No, no. Yes, okay yes I am a little afraid of heights." his cheeks flush pink, like he is embarrassed that he is afraid of something.

"Peeta," I say softly as I place my hand on his cheek "why did you go on all these rides if you were afraid, you could have just told me I would have understood, I mean I do understand."

"Katniss, I went on all of them because you wanted too, and I love you and I told you I would do anything for you." he says as he lightly kisses my forehead.

"Peeta!" I groan "Now I feel really bad making you go through all that!" He just chukles and hugs me closer to him,

"Katniss, don't worry about it, I've been through worse. But if it will make you feel any better I know a way you can make it up to me."

"How, how can I make it up to you?" I ask eagerly.

"You see that," he says and he points to a little platform at the end of the pier with a few couples dancing on it, "I want you to dance with me." Now it's my turn to feel uneasy, can I really do that dance in front of all these people? I look up at him and remember all the things he has done for me, what he wants me to do seems small in comparison.

"Okay, I'll dance with you." I say looking up at him, he smiles and leans down to kiss me. Then suddenly the Wheel starts to move again and Peeta becomes tenser. I squeeze his hand tight and lean in for a kiss, mainly because I want to but also to try and take his mind off the height.

I can't believe I am about to do this, I am going to dance in front of total strangers. Most of them will just walk past but some will stop to look and I am really scared of making a fool of myself. I am really regretting telling Peeta I would do this, I think I'm going to tell him that I can't do it. But then something strange happens. The song that was playing stopped and another one started, and the new song was the song the Peeta and I danced our first dance to. Now I can't think of anything I'd like to do more than dance with Peeta. He twirls me out onto the platform, then he pulls me in close to him and we sway to the music.

"I love you." I whisper into his ear,

"I love you too." he whispers back and hugs me tighter. The song ends and we hop down from the platform. It's getting late now, so we decide to walk back to the hotel. We walk hand in hand back down the pier, and then something catches my eye, an old couple sit on a bench sharing a plate of chips. The old man has his arm around the woman. She looks up at him, with love in her eyes. I nudge Peeta and ask him,

"Do you think we'll end up as happy as them?" I point towards the elderly couple. He sees them and smiles,

"I think we'll be happier."

When we get back to the hotel we have to tiptoe through the halls because everyone is asleep. But I feel like a little child again and I start to giggle uncontrollably. My giggles set Peeta off and eventually we have to run back to our room before our laughter wakes anyone up. We collapse on the bed in fits of laughter and then we just lie there until we have calmed down. I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, while Peeta changes into his pyjamas which are essentially just a pair of boxers. I hear the phone ring; it will probably be the reception calling to tell us someone has complained about the noise. So I let Peeta deal with it. A few moments later Peeta knocks at the bathroom door,

"Katniss its Johanna, it seems pretty urgent." He says as he hands me the phone.

"Hey Jo, what's up?" I ask,

"Katniss, I need your help." she replies through sobs,

"Jo, are you okay what's wrong?!" I ask, really concerned now,

"Katniss, I made a terrible mistake!" she cries, and then what she tells me shatters my happy bubble as I realise my best friends life has taken an unexpected turn.

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**Bit of a cliff hanger for you, haha. I wanted to put a little bit of drama into the romance. I only have a week until I go back to school so my posts will be mainly on weekends starting September, I feel really bad but I want to do well at school as well as write for you guys. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey Guys, I am so sorry I didn't update yesterday, I have a cold and I didn't feel well at all so it wouldn't have been my best work. So i left you on a cliff hanger, time to find out what happens! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games**

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Chapter 18

Katniss' P.O.V.

I hold her hand as we wait patiently, a silent tear trickles down her cheek and I wipe it away.

"How much longer?" She asks through sobs,

"Just 30 more seconds." I say reassuringly, squeezing her hand. The seconds tick by agonizingly slowly. We both just sit there in silence, knowing what the outcome will be, just hoping it isn't what we think it is.

"It's time Jo." I say and let go of her hand. Slowly, she gets up and walks over to the basin. She is about to look when she turns round and runs back to me.

"I can't do it," she sobs "Katniss please; please can you do it for me." I look up at her, she is 10 years older than me, but at the moment she looks like a child. I get up and walk over to the basin. I pick up the test and take a deep breath before looking. Positive. I look over at her, and she knows, by the look I give her, she knows the test reads positive. She collapses into my arms, and cries.

"I can't do this! I can't be a mother." she wails. I push her out of our hug; I place my hands on her shoulders and force her to look at me.

"Listen to me Jo, you can do this! You have me, Peeta, Effie, Haymitch and Oliver. We will all help you, through this!"

*1 Week later*

I hold her hand as we wait patiently. This is Joanna's first doctor's appointment. She has decided to move to District 12. That way she has all her friends around her, to help her. She is really nervous; she is squeezing my hand so tight I think she is cutting off circulation. Finally the Doctor calls her name. She wants to go through this part alone, so I just sit and wait. She hasn't told me who the father is yet and I don't want to press her for information. She does know that I think he should be told though. So far only Peeta and I know about Joanna's Pregnancy, She is planning on telling the others after her appointment. After what seems like an age, Johanna walks back into the waiting room.

"How, did it go?" I ask,

"Everything is fine, no not fine everything is amazing." she replies with the biggest smile on her face.

"Jo, what happened? I thought you didn't want the baby?" I ask a little shocked,

"Yes the baby wasn't planned, but when I saw it, on the monitor, something changed. I realised how much I want this baby. I need it, my life was going nowhere, and now I have a future. I know what I want to do, and I have this amazing thing growing inside of me that I can love and care for." She says rubbing her stomach. I give her a hug and we walk out of the surgery. We are walking back to the Victors Village when I have to tell her what's on my mind.

"Jo, you have to tell the father. He has a right to know and now that you're happy about this baby, he might be too, if he knew." She stops and looks at me, then she sighs and to my surprise says,

"I know, and I'm going to tell him straight after I tell the others." she turns round and continues walking.

Johanna's P.O.V.

I walk into Effie's front room and see Haymitch, Oliver and Effie staring expectantly at me.

"Well, what did you want to tell us?" Effie asks eagerly. Katniss is by my side and I look over to her, she nods and I go ahead and tell them my news,

"I'm pregnant." the words finally leave my mouth and a weight feels like it has been lifted off my shoulders. Effie Gasps, Haymitch chuckles and Oliver looks uncomfortable given that he doesn't know me as well as Effie and Haymitch.

"Who is the father?" Effie is the one who finally blurts out the obvious question. Now it's my turn to feel uncomfortable,

"I… I." I stammer, "I'm going to tell him later so, I'm not going to tell you just yet, not until he knows." Effie and Haymitch get up to give me a hug. Oliver says he hopes I'm well and that the baby is well, and Katniss gives me another hug. I go to the Kitchen to get a glass of water, when suddenly I feel the presence of someone behind me.

"I know who the father is." Haymitch says softly, I spin round to face him.

"How?!" I ask in shock.

"I saw you kiss him goodbye the morning after."

"Oh." is all I can say.

"Sweetheart, don't worry about telling him, he is mature and he will make a good father." He says patting my arm,

"You really think so?" I ask, feeling a tad better now.

"Yeah Kiddo, you're going to be fine."

"Thanks Haymitch." I say as I give him a hug. I get my glass of water and go sit back in the living room. Katniss is on my left and Effie is on my right.

"So how far along are you?" Effie asks the first of many questions to come.

"About 6 weeks." I reply,

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" she asks another question,  
"I don't care as long as it is healthy." I say, getting a little annoyed now.

"Have you thought of any names?" she persists,

"No Effie I'm only 6 weeks along!" I practically shout at her.

"I'm sorry, Jo, I'm asking too many questions aren't I?" Effie says quietly,

"No I'm sorry Effie, I shouldn't of snapped I'm just a little nervous, I'm going to tell the father in like an hour and I still have no clue what I'm going to say!" I wail.

"Jo, calm down it'll be okay." Katniss says putting a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"Yes, and no matter what happens we are all here for you." Effie says taking my hands in hers.

We sit and talk for a while; they try to calm me down. After 20 minutes of trivial chatting, I excuse myself. I walk to his house, dreading the moment when I have to knock on the door. The walk usually takes 10-15 minutes, but it seems to take an hour. All I can think about is how this tiny piece of information I am about to give him, will change his life forever. Then finally I see it, his house. I arrive at his door, I try to knock but I can't, I try again and I still can't muster the courage to knock. On my third attempt I find myself lightly knocking on the door. I hear his footsteps from inside, I hear them coming closer, becoming louder. I have to calm down, my heart is beating so fast I can feel it against my ribcage. He opens the door. I take a deep breath.

"Hi Thom," I say nervously "I have some news."

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**OOOHHHH, exciting stuff. For those of you you that don't know/remember Thom was in the books, he was part of Gales crew in the mines. He came back to 12 after the rebellion. I hope you liked that, it was quite hard to write. Thank you for your reviews they always make me smile and give me inspiration! Also thank you for reading, favouriting and following :) Chapter 19 will be up very soon! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello, Here is the next Chapter I'm sorry it's a bit short, I hope you enjoy it and please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 19

Johanna's P.O.V.

"Hi Jo, Do you want to come inside?" Thom says as he takes a step back from the door so I can walk in. I nod and take a step forward into his home. He gestures for me to sit and I do.

"Do you want a drink, I have some beer?" He asks,

"Um no beer, just some water please." I say, he raises his eyebrows, but goes into the kitchen and brings me back water. I take a sip trying to think of how I should tell him.

"So what was your news?" He asks, okay this is it. It's now or never.

"Thom, I'm pregnant." I say nervously.

"Oh wow Jo, that's great." He says. Oh God he doesn't get it, he hasn't realised.

"No Thom I don't think you understand. I am trying to tell you I am Pregnant and you are the Father." I say taking my hands in his. His face turns as white as a sheet.

"Me? How we, we were careful." he asks still in shock.

"Well it isn't always effective." I say softly caressing the back of his hand with my thumb.

"And you're, you're go-"

"Yes, I'm keeping **_our _**baby." I say before he can finish his sentence. Then he asks the obvious questions, _'How far along are you?'_ and _'Is it healthy?'_

Finally he asks me if I have a sonogram picture. I nod and reach into my purse. I hand him the picture, he stares at it for a while and then a silent tear trickles down his cheek. I wipe it away and he looks up at me and smiles.

"It looks like you." He says and we both burst into fits of laughter.

"Look Thom, if you don't want too, you don't have to be involved, I just thought you had a right to know." I say, he gives my hand a squeeze and says softly,

"Jo, are you mad of course I want to be a part of this baby's life, I don't want you to have to go through this alone. I'm going to help you through it." Haymitch was right; he will be an amazing father. We sit there in an awkward silence for a few minutes. He doesn't make any attempt at talking, in fact his face looks like he is in deep thought.

"So, how is this going to work? You live in 7 and I live here?" He asks,

"Oh, I forgot my other news, I've moved here. I live in the Victors Village, with Katniss, Peeta and Effie." I say and he smiles,

"That's wonderful, now I won't miss anything." He says as he pulls me into a hug. Just then his Mother and younger sister come in.

"Johanna, Johanna Mason?" His mother asks in shock. It's not every day you see a Victor of a Hunger Games.

"Hello Mrs Castle, Nice to meet you." I say as I stand up to shake her hand.

"Please call me Louise, and nice to meet you too Johanna." She replies sweetly. Then Thom's younger sister introduces herself, she is younger than him by about 4 years,

"Hello, I'm Frances." I shake her hand too.

Thom becomes very tense beside me. He knows he'll have to explain why I'm here sooner or later. He clears his throat,

"Um Mom, Frances, I need to tell you something, please sit down." He gestures towards the couch, and they sit on it. I sit on the chair opposite and he stands, but he links his hand with mine. He does this for his benefit more than mine. He looks over to me, and I nod.

"Johanna is Pregnant, and I'm the father." He says his voice full of nerves but tinged with happiness. His mother's lips twitch and then she smiles from ear to ear,

"Really, I'm going to be a grandmother?" She asks in a happy shock, Both Thom and I nod. She gets up and hugs the both of us. Frances on the other hand asks much more difficult questions.

"So are you two like a couple?" I look at Thom for help.

"Erm, not exactly." He mumbles, Frances raises her eyebrows,

"So, this baby, was a mistake yes?" She asks her voice tainted with harshness.

"Frances stop it! All of that stuff doesn't matter, all that matters is that Thom and Johanna are going to have a beautiful baby surrounded by people that love it." Louise scolds Frances as well as offering us comforting words. Frances excuses herself shortly after her scolding, I think she has some sort of problem with me, but I don't know what. Then I go through all the questions I've already been asked today with Louise. Thom can see my patience is wearing thin so he offers to walk me home.

We walk in silence until he says,

"I'm sorry about Frances."

"Oh don't worry its fine." I lie, actually the way acted Frances really bothered me,

"No, no it's not, she shouldn't have treated you that way, I don't know what her problem is."

"Oh Thom, I'm sure she'll come around." I say softly patting his arm.

"I Hope your right," He pauses then adds, "Jo, I do want to talk to you seriously about wht we are doing though."

"What do you mean?" I ask confused,

"Well are we going to be together, as a couple try and make it work for the baby or are we going to be separated and share the custody?" He says stopping ad grabbing my arm turning me to face him. None of this had occurred to me before. We had only spent that one night together. But I had thought about him a lot after that night, something about him stuck in my mind, whenever I saw him I got butterflies in my stomach and I couldn't take my eyes off him.

"Well I… I-" He cuts me off mid-sentence,

"Because I need to know Jo, if we have something special together, if we could be together or whether we are just going to be single parents."

"Why, do you need to know Thom?" I'm becoming frustrated why can't he just get to the point? He looks me straight in the eyes and says,

"Because ever since that night I can't seem to think about anything else but you. Because whenever I catch glimpses of you in town my heart rate speeds up and I lose the ability to talk." He pauses before saying,

"Because I think, I think I might be in love with you." I can't believe he just said that. He might be in love with me? The crazy thing is I think I might love him too. And now we are having this baby together, it's like it was fate because without me becoming pregnant the chances are I would have never spoken to Thom again. I look up at him, and before I know what I'm doing I kiss him. He kisses me back.

* * *

**So Thom knows and so do his family. I know this is a lot of Johanna stuff at the moment but it is vital to some upcomming Katniss/Peeta stuff, so please bear with. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I am having so much fun writing this! I know i have said this beofre but i really do appreciate your reviews, they are little bursts of inspiration, so please keep reviewing and favouriting and following. I really hope you are enjoying reading this as much as i am enjoying writing it :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello, I feel like I have neglected you! I'm sorry for not updating sooner, I hope you like this :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 20

Katniss' P.O.V.

*4 Months Later*

The past few months have flown by so quickly. Peeta and I have fallen into a routine. A routine I enjoy. On the weekdays we get up early, he goes to the bakery I go to hunt. I stop off at the bakery for lunch, and then I spend the rest of the afternoons, preparing the game I catch. In the evenings we eat together and then spend our time together watching TV, reading and Peeta paints. I go to some of Johanna's doctor's appointments when Thom can't attend because he is working. Johanna constantly argues with Thom's sister, Frances, They are at each other's throats every time they see each other. No one knows why Frances has a problem with Jo, but she never wins the arguments because both Thom and his mother side with Jo. Thom moved into Jo's House in the Victors Village, they decided it would be best for the baby. Oliver is planning to propose to Effie and on the whole everyone is happy.

Today is a Sunday so Peeta and I can have a lie in. His arms are always comforting to me. I sigh and lean back into him, I turn my head against his chest so I can hear his steady heartbeat. He hugs me tighter and places a kiss on my forehead. Peeta moves forward like he is going to get up, but I turn round and push him back down,

"No Peeta, can we please just stay here for a while longer." I ask widening my eyes, to make me look cuter, so he can't resist,

"Okay," He says with a smile "And by the way, when you widen your eyes like that you look extremely irresistible." I smile, and then I laugh

"I try my best." I say with a wink. Peeta rolls his eyes then a mischievous grin crosses his face. I try to move away but I'm not quick enough he grabs me and tickles me, I shriek with laughter. It's pointless trying to tickle him back, he isn't ticklish, believe me I've tried.

"Stop it," I manage to splutter out through laughter, "Peeta I'm begging you." His tickles cease and I can breathe properly again. I lie on my back and Peeta lies on his next to me. He reaches for my hand and I snatch it away and roll onto my side. Pretending to be in a mood with him will be his payback.

"Katniss, I'm sorry," He says inching closer to me, "I didn't mean to upset you." The guilt in his voice is evident, and now I feel bad for making him feel that way. I turn round and smile,

"I was kidding, I'm not mad at you." he looks a little shocked then relieved.

"Don't do that to me Katniss!" He says pulling me into his arms. His forcefulness surprises me. I didn't mean to actually hurt his feelings.

"I won't do it again, I promise." He nods in response and hugs me tighter. He hugs me so tight I find it hard to breathe.

"Peeta, I can't breathe," I manage to get the words out but he doesn't respond, "Peeta!" He seems to snap out of his daze because his grip loosens.

"Peeta are you okay?" I ask, rubbing his back.

"Uh yeah, yeah I'm fine." He says turning away. He's obviously not fine, he's hiding something,

"No, Peeta you're not fine, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine Katniss," He says and he gets up off the bed and heads towards the door. He isn't quick enough though and I make it to the door before him. I shut it and stand in front of it so he can't leave.

"NO, Peeta tell me what's wrong!" I say forcefully, He looks at the floor, the window, anywhere but my eyes. After a long awkward silence he sighs,

"When you snatched your hand away," He takes a deep breath "I thought I was going to have a flashback. Only for a moment. But it wasn't the usual kind of flashback, instead of wanting to hurt you, I had lost you. You were dying and I couldn't do anything to save you! It was a greater pain than I had ever experienced. I felt like my heart had been smashed into a million pieces." That was not what I was expecting. I have always had nightmares about losing Peeta. It never occurred to me that he had fears about losing me too. The very thought of him in pain makes my eyes well up. I cling onto his shirt, soaking it with tears. He puts one arm around me the other strokes my hair.

"I'm here Peeta, I'm not going anywhere." I say between sobs.

"I know Katniss, sweetheart I'm alright now I promise, I love you." He says I hold on to his shirt tighter, afraid to let go.

"I Love you too." I say barley above a whisper. He picks me up and takes me over to the bed. He sits on the edge with me on his lap. I cling to him, and breathe him in. The familiar smell calms me, cinnamon and flour, among other things. Eventually I feel calm enough to let go of Peeta. He kisses the top of my head and tells me he is going to make breakfast. I watch him as he walks out the door. So calm and collected. Sometimes I wish I could be more like him.

I decide to have a quick shower. I scrub my skin till it is raw. Determined to scrub away all of this morning's emotions. I need to clear my head and the only way I can do that is by going out to the woods. I dry myself off and put on my hunting clothes. I run downstairs and sit at the table,

"Why are you in your hunting gear?" Peeta asks handing me a plate of cheese buns,

"I was going to go to the woods, is that okay?" I ask, although I know he'll let me go.

"Yeah sure," He pauses, "Um Katniss would it be okay if I came with you?" I am taken aback. He never asks to come with me. I consider it for a moment, I was going to the woods to clear my head, and I can only do that if I'm by myself. But I always feel safer when I'm with Peeta.

"Yeah, that would be nice." I say, he smiles,

"Give me 5 minutes to change." he says and he practically runs up the stairs. He doesn't want to keep me waiting. He is always thinking of others before himself. He returns in less than 5 minutes and we set off.

* * *

"How much further Katniss?" Peeta whines,

"Not much further." I reassure him. I decided to take him to the lake. The lake that held so many happy memories of me and my father. When we arrive I stand there for a moment or two, just taking it all in. I can hear Peeta Behind me, he always gets breathless when we walk long distances. I always forget it's harder for him, having the prosthetic leg. I take a step back and lean my head on his shoulder.

"How do you know about this place?" Peeta asks, putting an arm around my waist.

"My Dad used to take me here. It's where I learned to swim." I reply. Then a thought occurs to me, I always felt better when I was in the water. I unzip my jacket and throw it to the ground. Then I take off my shirt.

"Katniss, what are you doing?" Peeta asks, but I ignore him. I kick off my boots and take off my jeans. I am now standing in my underwear. I don't hesitate, I run full throttle towards the lake and jump in. I can hear Peeta shouting, so I surface so he can see that I'm alright.

"Katniss, what the hell?" He shouts "That water is probably freezing!" He is wrong the water isn't freezing, its clod but a pleasant kind of cold. Refreshing not unbearable. I just laugh.

"You should come in Peeta." I say ducking back under the water.

"Katniss, please come back up." Peeta says inching closer to the edge of the lake. I surface again, but I don't come out of the water, I just float. Peeta is sitting on the edge of the lake now. I swim over to where he is,

"Peeta please come in and swim with me." I say widening my eyes like I do whenever I want something.

"You really want me to?" He asks, I nod,

"We can stay in the shallow end, come on." I say tugging lightly on the hem of his trousers. He looks between me and the water, and then he sighs and begins to unlace his boots. He strips down to his underwear and slowly wades into the water. I step forward and take his hand. He pulls me close and we kiss. Water seems to have this effect on us. We always seem end up kissing when we're near water like in the Quarter Quell and on the beach in District 4 on our honeymoon.

"Is it possible that I just fell in love with you all over again?" I ask him,

"I think it's very possible, because I think I just fell in love with you all over again." He replies. No one can understand how much I love Peeta. I need him like I need air. He completes me in every way possible. And now when I think back I don't know why Gale was ever an option.

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**We had a lot of Johanna stuff recently so i decided to do a chapter devoted to Katniss and Peeta. In the next few chapters there will be a few little Katniss Peeta fights, which will be interesting because i haven't really done anything like that before. You'll have to wait to find out what the fights are about though, Haha. I feel a bit mean now so I am going to thank you all again for your amazing reviews, it really makes my day when i see your reviews. I also want to thank you for reading following and favouritng! I will try to update tomorrow and Tuesday because I go back to school on Wednesday so my posts will be mainly on weekends from now on, sorry :( **

**P.S. I get my Hunger Games DVD tomorrow, I am fangirling already! :D**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hola, mi amigos! I feel really bad about not updating but i just started year 10 and the homework/pressure is insane. But It's Sports day tomorrow (YUCK)! So I have no homework so I could write a bit for you tonight and I will post this weekend too! But now stop reading this and read the story!**

**Discalimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 21

Katniss' P.O.V.

*3 Months Later*

_A girl with Peeta's deep blue eyes and my long mahogany hair steps onto the stage. An extravagant Capitol woman takes her hand and congratulates her. The girl begins to cry hysterically and she runs off the stage and straight towards me. _

_"MUMMY!" She screams at the top of her lungs, "Don't let them take me." She reaches me and leaps into my arms, but no sooner is she in them she is taken out again by a group of peacekeepers. They drag her kicking and screaming back towards the stage. She screams for her mother, she screams for me._

* * *

Now it's my turn to scream. Ever since Johanna's pregnancy I have been having horrible nightmares about losing my children. The children that I don't plan on having for a long, long time. Peeta's arms are around me now, rubbing my back.

"Shhh, Katniss, it was just a dream." Peeta says soothingly. I hug him close, I'm not sobbing like I usually do, I just scream, I scream until my throat hurts and I physically can't scream anymore.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks rubbing my back. I shake my head, I tell him about most of my dreams but I can't talk about this one. He wants children now, and if I tell I want to wait to have children it would just crush him. I glance over at the clock and see that it is 6 AM, so I decide to get up. I wash my hair and brush my teeth. I kiss Peeta goodbye and head straight out the door. I usually go and check on Johanna before I go hunting but I couldn't face seeing her today. She is 8 months pregnant and glowing, normally I wouldn't mind talking baby stuff with her but after my dream I don't think I can face it. I go straight into the woods and put all my focus into hunting.

I reach the fence and duck under. I still always check to see if it's buzzing even though I know it won't be. I guess old habits die hard. My dream still lingers in the back of my mind. I have had that dream every night now for months. Sometimes little things are different, I see a blond boy with grey eyes instead of the girl. But they are always calling for their mother. They are always calling for me. Peeta puts no pressure on me to have kids. However I can tell clear he wants them sooner rather than later, and I don't want to disappoint him. I've already had a taste of what it's like to have your child reaped. Although Prim was my sister, I cared for her like I was her mother. When she was reaped it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I don't want anything like that to happen again. Everyone assures me that it won't. But nothing lasts forever and this new government could turn out to be as corrupt as the last.

I hunt for 6 hours straight. I put all my energy into it and I don't feel as depressed as I did this morning. Slowly I walk back into town. I stop off at the butchers and Sae's to give them some of the game I caught. Finally I stop off at the bakery so I can see Peeta. I go in the back door, like I always so and I sit on the counter. Peeta sees me and smiles, he walks by with a plate of freshly baked cookies and I snatch one.

"Hey, those are for paying customers." He says as he pretends to swat my hand away. He quickly pecks me on the lips and then gets back to work. I watch him work for hours as he makes bread, cakes and pastries. Anyone else would get bored but I don't, I am totally mesmerised by the way he works.

When he starts to clean up, I hop down from the counter and help him. I am just about to grab a cloth and start cleaning when he turns round and put his hands on my waist and gives me a proper kiss. We break apart and he takes his hands off my waist. I look down and I see floury hand prints on my T-shirt. I giggle and walk over to the big sack of flour in the corner. I coat my hands in flour and walk back over to Peeta; I place my hands on his chest, leaving his T-shirt with two floury hand prints. He laughs and goes into the shop. I go over to my game bag to look over what I have left, and then Peeta calls my name. I spin round and find that he is only a few centimetres behind me. He smiles, then flicks flour in my face. I let out a noise which is something between a giggle and a groan. I reach behind me, grab a hand-full of flour and walk over to Peeta and sprinkle it in his hair. He laughs and makes his way over to the flour, I run round to the other side of the table. He stands on the opposite side, flour in hand, we've reached a stalemate. Slowly he edges closer to me and I mover further away. I try to make a break for it but he lunges forward and grabs the back of my T-shirt. He spins my around and says,

"Truce?" I go on tiptoes and whisper in his ear,

"Truce." He laughs because my breath tickles his ear and I laugh too after all laughter is infectious.

"Let me clean up the mess we made then we can go home." He says as he kisses my cheek. I nod in response and hop back onto the counter where I sat earlier watching him work. It doesn't take him long to clean up. When he is done he walks over to me, takes my hand and I hop off the counter. He gives me his jacket as we walk home because the September air is quite chilly. I feel bad that he doesn't have a jacket so I snuggle in closer to him, and he kisses the top of my head. I love being close to Peeta, feeling his warmth, breathing him in. I can't wait until we get home so I can kiss him again.

I unlock the door and I step inside closely followed by Peeta. As soon as the door closes I pounce on him, kissing him passionately. He is a little surprised at first but it doesn't take long for him to start kissing me back. Slowly, I walk backwards pulling Peeta with me. I feel my way to the sofa and we lower ourselves onto it, our kiss never breaking. I run my fingers through his hair pulling him even closer to me, his arms wrap around my waist, squeezing me tightly to him. It's unreal, how happy I am at this moment. If you had asked me a year ago if I ever thought I would be happy again the answer would have probably been no. But here I am, married and in love with this amazing man.

Once my Mother told me there was always a way to know if a boy was in love with you. She said if he closes his eyes when he kisses you then he really loves you. She was right, every kiss I have ever shared with Peeta his eyes have always been closed. In our first kisses I didn't always feel like closing my eyes because I knew it wasn't real. But he always, no matter what he felt, real or not real, had his eyes closed. We have been kissing heatedly for some time now, but I don't want to stop. I could never get enough of Peeta Mellark. But it seems other people have different Ideas because the next thing I know, Haymitch I loudly banging on the door.

"Katniss, Peeta, Let me in." he shouts, For a moment there is silence all you can here is mine and Peeta's heavy breathing. I look in Peeta's eyes and whisper,

"Shhh, maybe he'll go away." Peeta nods and after a few more moments of silence, I begin kissing him again because it sounds like Haymitch has gone. But no, Haymitch starts banging on the door again and he isn't alone Thom is with him.

"Katniss seriously open up!" Thom shouts,

"Not, now, we're kinda busy!" I shout back. I hear Haymitch groan,

"I can see what you're doing, we already have one baby on the way, now is not the time to be making another!" Haymitch shouts. I jump off Peeta and look towards the window where I can just about make out Haymitch's shape. Peeta gets up and opens the door; Haymitch and Thom come rushing in. I feel my cheeks blush pink, as I realise Haymitch has just seen Peeta and me making out.

"Finally!" Haymitch says as he glances at me with a smirk on his face.

"What do you want?" Peeta directs his question to both of them, hoping to find out what they want quicker. He can sense my embarrassment.

"Katniss you need to come with us, you too Peeta if you want to." Thom says, motioning us to follow him.

"Why what's happened." I ask as I grab my coat off the rack and hand Peeta his. Thom begins to grin from ear to ear so whatever it is can't be bad. I glance over at Peeta and he shrugs.

"Jo's Water broke!" He tries to keep his voice steady but the excitement is evident,

"I'm going to be a Father." I want to be happy, I really do but my first reaction to this is to cry. It burst my happy bubble and made all of my confused feelings of this morning resurface. But I have to keep positive now, for Jo. So I plaster a smile on my face and follow Thom out of the door.

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**I Hope you liked that! I know I didn't do Johanna's pregnancy in a lot of detail, but when Katniss is pregant it will be a lot more detailed. I love writing so I am in a happy mood now! It won't last long seen as sports day is tomorrow and I have to run the 200 meters and I can't run to save my life. I guess I will just have to be Katniss brave and get on with it, haha. Again I am really sorry for not updating sooner, But anyone who has done/is doing their GCSE's will hopefully understand :) I love you all for bearing with me and for reading, reviewing, favourting and following. Again I am very, truly sorry! I hope you can forgive me :D**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hola, another update as promised! I hope you like this :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 22

Katniss' P.O.V

"Katniss!" Joanna shouts when she sees me walk through the door.

"It's okay Jo, I'm here now." I say as I kneel by the couch and hold her hand. I turn to Thom and say,

"We need to get her to the Hospital."

"I know, but she wouldn't go until you were with her." Thom says, never taking his eyes off Jo. I look at Jo and then at Peeta and Thom gesturing to them to help me, help her up. Slowly, with much difficulty and our help Jo gets up off the sofa. It's only a 15 minute walk to the Hospital but seen as Jo was actually in labour it didn't seem right to walk. So Peeta brought the car around. Jo sat in the Front, and Haymitch, Thom and I squished in the back. Effie and Oliver Follow us in their car.

We get to the hospital in no time at all and we all rush up to the front desk. A middle aged woman with greying hair and a comforting smile is sitting behind the desk, she asks politely,

"How can I help you?"

"My Girlfriend, Johanna Mason, has gone into labour." Thom says calmly.

"Okay," The nice nurse whose name tag says Judy replies, "How long ago exactly did her water break?"

"Um, about an hour ago I guess." Thom replies looking at Johanna for reassurance. She nods, and then cries out in pain.

"I'm… having… a contraction." Johanna manages to get out in between deep breaths. The nurse looks sympathetically towards Johanna. Then gets up from behind the desk and brings round a wheelchair for Jo to sit in.

"Come on love, let's go take you to a room." Nurse Judy says taking the handles of Johanna wheel chair. She tells us to wait here while they check Jo over and assign her a room. Thom is relatively calm. Haymitch is pacing up and down, Effie is sitting opposite us with Oliver jiggling her leg up and down with nerves and Peeta is sitting next to me tightly holding on to my hand.

Finally, after what seems like an age Nurse Judy reappears.

"She's in room 23, you can all see her now, but it's time to deliver the baby only the father and one other person will be allowed to be present." then she returns to behind the desk and we all hurry off to find Jo. It takes us 20 minutes to find her. The Hospital is bigger than you would think. When we finally burst into her room she sighs in relief,

"I thought you had all left me."

"I'd never leave you." Thom says as he rushes to her side. He pulls a chair up next to her bed and takes her hand. She smiles weakly, and then her face contorts as she has another contraction. Thom's face has the exact same expression that Peeta uses when I'm in pain and he can't do anything to stop it. Johanna's contraction ends and she relaxes back into the bed.

"How many centimetres dilated are you?" I ask taking the seat on the other side of her bed and taking her other hand.

"The nurse said about 3-4, so I still have a long way to go."

"Don't worry, we are all here for you." I say giving her hand a light squeeze.

We sit with Jo for an hour, chatting, trying to keep her mind off the contractions. Then Nurse Judy pops her head round the door and asks, all of us but Thom to leave whilst she checks over Johanna. We wait patiently outside in the corridor. Haymitch starts pacing again and Peeta and I stand by the door, our hands still intertwined. Haymitch's pacing really starts to irritate me, until finally I can't take it anymore.

"Haymitch!" I snap "Stop pacing, you're making me nervous when there is nothing to be nervous about."

"Sorry." Haymitch says sincerely. Then he goes and leans back against the wall opposite myself and Peeta. Every so often Peeta will give my hand a little squeeze. A silent way of saying everything will be alright. We wait for God knows how long. There is a clock on the wall but I never look at it. I look only at the floor. But the steady ticking is comforting.

"Katniss." I jump at Nurse Judy calling my name. I turn round and she continues talking,

"Johanna's labour is moving a bit quicker than we previously thought it would."

"What do you mean? is everything okay?" I ask really worried now, Nurse Judy just smiles.

"No, no everything is fine, but Jo is now 10 centimetres dilated and ready to start pushing."

"Oh good, I'm glad everything is okay." I say relief rushing through my body.

"Katniss, she wants you at the birth." Nurse Judy says taking my hand.

"Oh okay." I stammer, as she pulls me into the room. Thom hasn't moved since I last left the room, he is next to Jo, holding her hand. I go stand by Jo's side and take her free hand. She looks petrified.

"Katniss I'm frightened." Jo says weakly. I gently squeeze her hand,

"Jo, you can do anything, you can do this."

"Okay time to push." The doctor at the end of the bed says. Jo squeezes my hand so hard, I think she broke bones and cut of circulation. Thom kisses the top of her head and whispers encouragement into her ear.

"You're doing great, just a few more pushes." Nurse Judy tells Jo, she nods slightly and then she screams again when she has to push. The doctor looks towards Thom and says,

"Do you want to see the head?" At first Thom seems unsure, but slowly he makes his way to the doctor. My first reaction to watching someone give birth would probably be to throw up or faint, but Thom does neither. A single tear cascades down his cheek as he watches his first child being born. I find the moment so touching, I feel a little choked up myself. That is until Johanna starts screaming again.

"Thom stop blubbering and get back up here!" she screeches. I laugh and Thom practically sprints the very short distance back up to Jo's side. He takes her hand and whispers apologies into her ear.

"Okay final Push." the doctor announces. Jo screams louder than I thought was humanly possible and we are rewarded with the sound of an infant's cry.

I stand in front of the glass looking at all of the babies that were born today. Johanna's and Thom's beautiful baby girl is in the middle. She has Johanna's dark hair. Scarlett Rose Castle, born September 12th at exactly 2 AM. I feel Peeta's arms snake around my waist and his chin rest on my head.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" I say,

"Yeah she is." Peeta replies quietly and I know by the tone of his voice he is thinking about something. I know what it is too and I really don't want to talk here.

"Katniss." He asks,

"Mmmnn" I reply, terrified of what his next question will be.

"When do you think we'll have kids?" He asks spinning me round to face him.

"I don't know." I say quietly,

"You don't know? What does that mean?" He asks calmly,

"It means that I'm not quite ready to have children yet."

"I know you're not ready to have children now, but do you have any idea of when you will be ready?" The tone he uses doesn't imply any pressure, but I feel like a ton of bricks have just been dropped on me. How can I tell I don't know if I'll ever be ready to have kids? I decide it's best to start by telling him about the nightmares. I explain them to him, and he understands why that would be extremely upsetting for me but he still hasn't quite understood what I am trying to say.

"Peeta, you don't understand, what I am trying to say is, is I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to have children." I finally manage to choke out. He tries to hide it but I can see the hurt on his face.

"So you'll never be ready?" he asks his voice quiet,

"I don't know maybe one day, but not now. I'm so sorry Peeta; I know I've disappointed you." I say looking down, I can't look in his eyes right now; the crystal blue is mixed with hurt and confusion. After a long silence I look up, I expect him to take me in his arms and tell me he'll wait until I'm ready but he doesn't he just stands there.

"Peeta say something, please." He looks at me with those sad eyes,

"Katniss I love you, but I do want children and I am going to try and convince you having children is the right thing for us. Because I know that it is."

"You can try, but I'm very stubborn, you of all people know that." I reply,

"I know, but you of all people should know I am the only person who would be able to convince you. After all you always said I was better with words." He says pulling me close.

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**I hope you enjoyed that. I needed to do some writing to cheer myself up as i came last in my race today :( I hope you liked the name/gender of the baby. Scarlett Rose Castle (She took Thom's last name). I will try and update one more time over the weekend. Also Please review, they make my day! Thanks for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello! I bet you thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth! I feel so bad about not updating, the guilt was killing me so I made sure I did all my homework so i had time to write this :) So Read on, I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 23

Katniss' P.O.V.

*A Few Weeks Later*

"Katniss!" Johanna shrieks, I roll over and look at the clock 2 AM.

"Katniss, she won't stop crying!" Johanna bursts into mine and Peeta's bedroom, carrying a wailing Scarlett in her arms. She plonks herself at the end of the bed and motions for me to come and help her. Peeta groans, grabs my pillow and places it over his head to try and drown out the bawling. I throw back the covers and crawl to the end of the bed.

"I tried everything." Johanna wails exasperated. She can't have tried everything.

"Feeding?"

"Yes."

"Burping?"

"Yep."

"Changing?"

"Yeah."

"Rocking?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't see how I can help you Jo, you tried everything, she'll stop when she's tired." I say, with a sigh. All I want to do is go back to sleep.

"Please can you just hold her for a second, you might be able to get her back to sleep." Johanna pleads.

"I don't know Jo I-" But before I can finish my sentence she is thrusting Scarlett into my arms. I carefully place Scarlett in my arms so she is comfortable and rock her back and forth. Her cries soften, and before I know what I'm doing I start to sing softly to her. Her cries stop, and she sleeps soundly. Johanna sighs in relief as I hand Scarlett back to her.

"Thank you." she mouths before quietly leaving the room. I crawl back under the sheets and snuggle down. I am almost asleep when Peeta whispers in the darkness,

"You would make an amazing Mum." Here we go again. Ever since that night at the hospital Peeta has kept true to his word and he has constantly, trying to convince me to have kids. I can't complain I did say he could do it, and it always has been his dream to have kids.

"Maybe." is all I can think to say. Spending time with Scarlett has made me think about kids. I always seem to manage alright with her, but every time I convince myself that having kids is the right thing to do I have a nightmare about losing my children, in the reaping. Paylor has assured me time and time again, that there will never be another Hunger Games, but I can't be sure. I've learned to trust Peeta, Effie, Haymitch and Johanna but there are some people that I still can't fully trust. The war is to blame for that.

"I'm serious Katniss; you would make an amazing Mum." He whispers.

"I don't think so, I'm too harsh." I say, choosing my words carefully, he always seems to make my negatives into positives. He stays silent for a few moments, you can almost hear his brain thinking through carefully what he'll say next.

"You can be a little harsh sometimes." He admits, usually I would be annoyed at this comment but it stops him talking about babies so it's fine.

"But," He continues "I've seen how you are with Rory and Scarlett. You look so natural, like you were born to be a mother." This was true, Both Annie and Johanna, have made comments about my way with their children. According to them I know how to handle young ones; they always seem calmer when I'm around. We could go on like this for hours but, it's nearly 3 AM and, all I want to do is go back to sleep! But if I let him win this one, he may start to think that I've changed my mind, when I haven't and I don't want to give him false hope.

"Peeta, it's late let's just go to sleep." I say quietly turning away, I can't face him.

I feel terrible, I wish he could understand. If we lived in a different world, and I wasn't so damaged I wouldn't think twice about having children. But we don't live in a different world and I am very damaged. I have no doubts about Peeta, I know he would be an amazing Father, but that's not enough. A child needs a good Mother as well as a good Father and I know I could never be a good mother. I have no patience, I'm not kind or caring, although Peeta would beg to differ, and if I'm being honest, I just don't trust myself.

Peeta's P.O.V.

She rolls over and drifts back off to sleep. Normally I would snuggle up next to her but I can tell she is annoyed at me for bringing up the babies thing again, so I don't, I know better than that. I don't want to push her into anything but, I want kids so bad! I can just picture myself in the bakery helping out little boy or girl to decorate cupcakes, or at home watching them paint pictures. These are the images that whirl around my head as I slowly drift off to sleep.

Katniss is gone when I wake up. She left a note:

_Dear Peeta,_

_I've gone hunting Sae said she needed a few things. I'll be back this afternoon._

_Love,_

_Katniss x_

It's Saturday, so the fact that she's gone to the woods just means she doesn't want to talk to me. Usually we would spend the day together but, seen as that's not happening anymore I think I'll go spend the day with Haymitch.

I have a quick breakfast, then I head out the door and over to Haymitch's. On my way I hear Johanna screaming at Thom. Apparently it's his turn to change Scarlett. I chuckle to myself, Katniss and I could be having arguments like that in a few years' time. I hope we will be having arguments like that. It's strange isn't it, the fact that I want to argue with Katniss. I can just imagine her screaming at me to Change a diaper, or warm a bottle. I don't have much time to think more about babies because Haymitch is waiting for me on his porch. He must have seen me coming.

"Hey boy, what are you doing here today, I thought you'd be spending the day with Katniss?" He asks, motioning me to come inside. I step inside and follow him into the living room.

"Um no, Katniss went hunting today." I say quietly, looking at the floor. Haymitch looks at me,

"Hunting huh? Are you sure you didn't have a fight?" He says slowly, studying me. I don't want to hide things from him, and talking about this may make my head a little clearer.

"Well it wasn't really a fight."

"Well what was it then?"

"I brought up having Kids again and she shut me out, she won't talk to me."

"You just got to give her some time, you never thought she would agree to marry you and she did. She'll come around, maybe you have to wait a few years but, it'll be worth it in the end." he says patting my shoulder, it's an awkward encounter but I appreciate the sentiment. I think Haymitch is right, waiting a few years to have kids is better than not having them at all.

"Thanks Haymitch, although I think you're only saying that cause' you don't want to be called grandpa." I say, Haymitch chuckles. Just after Scarlett was born Johanna and Haymitch had an argument, Johanna wanted Scarlett to call Haymitch grandpa, but Haymitch claimed he was not old enough, so in the end they settled for uncle. I don't think Katniss is going to let Haymitch get away that easily when the time comes.

"I mean what I say boy, though I still maintain I will never be old enough to be a grandpa!" We both chuckle and I end up spending the whole day at Haymitch's by the time I leave it is 5:30 PM. I expect to find Katniss when I get home but she hasn't returned yet. It's a bit unusual seen as its October and the nights are getting darker earlier.

I try to keep myself busy but the time goes by and Katniss still isn't back. I feel really bad, this is my entire fault. If only I'd realised sooner that Katniss would come around to the idea of Kids if I'd stopped asking about it. It's okay I just have to calm down she'll come back I know she'll come back.

It's now 8:30 and Katniss still isn't back. This isn't right, something isn't right. She wouldn't just leave me, it wasn't a fight, it wasn't a fight. She said she'd be back later in the note. She also wrote love Katniss which means she was feeling bad too. I can't just sit here. First I go to Sae's house but she said Katniss never showed up with the game. Then I return to the Village and I quietly knock on Johanna's and Thom's door. Johanna says she hasn't seen Katniss since this morning when she saw her walk out of the Village through the window. In a last ditch attempt to reassure myself she's alright, I knock on Haymtich's door. Even though I know she won't be there. He answers almost immediately, and before I can speak he says,

"She never came back."

"How do you know?" I ask in complete shock,

"I don't have much to do around here boy, most of the time I just sit at the window reading or just watching, I was watching tonight, she didn't come back." He says stepping out of his house and zipping up his coat.

"Haymitch something must of happened, she wouldn't just leave! She could be in trouble!" I shout at him, I didn't mean to I am just so angry and frustrated.

"I know Boy, something is not right," he says pausing for thought "Look here's what we'll do, you go over to Jo's and ask her if she'll be okay with Scarlett on her own we need Thom to help us."

"Help us find Katniss?" I ask,

"Yes, we'll split up and search the town and woods for her."

"Okay." Is all I can say, I am too sick with worry to think of anything else. But I know we'll find her. We have too.

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**Okay This is going to be quite a long A/N but it has some important informtion in it so please read. I know this is a cliffhanger but i have a half day on tuesday and an INSET day on Wednesday so i will be able to post then, so you won't have to wait long to see what happens!**

**My readers mean the world to me. My friends make fun of me and call me a nerd or a geek for writing fanfiction but I love it. It is soo nice too know that you appriciate my work and want to read it, i really do love you all for that! **

**Also I am open to suggestions, I want this story to be as enjoyable for you to read as possible so, if there is a character you want to hear more about or you want me to bring an old character back tell me in a review. Another thing I want your opinoin on was whether or not you think Katniss' pregnacy should be an accident or planned? I really don't mind, it's what ever is more enjoyable for you too read. So thank you so much for reading and let me know what you think in an Review please! :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello my lovelies! Sorry I didn't post on Wednesday, my chemistry teacher set me a ton of homework to do, but i did score 28/30 on our test today so it kinda paid off! I hope you enjoy this :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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Chapter 24

Katniss' P.O.V.

Stupid tree. Peeta is probably going insane with worry. Urg, I was sitting in the tree, minding my own business when, the branch snapped. I'm fine but I can't move because a rather large branch has my foot trapped under it. It doesn't hurt, it's just extremely irratating. I have been sitting here for hours, and it is now getting dark and to be honest I'm quite frightened. It is also freezing, my father's hunting jacket can only keep me warm for so long. The only advantage to this situation is that it has given me lots of time to think. The only thing that is on my mind right now is babies and whether or not I want them. I know I want Peeta to be happy. I know he would never leave me. I know that he loves me no matter what. I know I don't want him to be unhappy the rest of his life. But that will end up happening if I decide once and for all that I don't want children. I can see it in his eyes, he is holding on to that last little shred of hope he has, that he can convince me to have children. Peeta is an excellent wordsmith, but what if he can't talk me into this. I am pretty stubborn. Would having children be such a bad thing? I am young, only 20, but that isn't too young. I could make a deal say I will have children but we have to wait 5-10 years first, so I am more mature and prepared.

Prim. She was so young when her life was snatched away from her. What if my child died and there was nothing I could do to save them. I only just manage to cope with her death. If my own child died, I would be totally inconsolable. It would drive Peeta and me apart. I wouldn't want to live anymore.

I have been debating this for hours and I am still no clearer on where I stand! To have babies or not to have babies that is the question. I wish Peeta would hurry up and realise I'm missing so he can come and recue me. I'm whining I know but I also haven't eaten in hours and I can't take much more of this. Why does the tree have to be so heavy?! I need to be rescued.

"Katniss!" Oh thank God! He came!

"Peeta!" I answer his call and I hear his footfall become closer. He bursts into the clearing and sighs in relief. He rushes over to me and hugs me close; I breathe him and hug closer to him, grateful for his warmth.

"Are you okay? What happened?" He floods me with questions.

"I'm fine, my foot just got caught underneath this branch and I can't move the branch. I'm not strong enough." I say, he immediately goes over to the branch and lifts it with ease. His strength amazes me. Lifting those flower sacks has come in handy countless times. I wriggle out from under the branch and stand up. He rushes over to help steady me and, even though I don't need help I let him help me.

He puts his arm around my waist and we begin to walk towards the meadow. We catch up with Haymitch and Thom who were also out looking for me. Thom tells me he's glad I'm okay but, he then hurries ahead because he wants to get back to Jo and Scarlett. Haymitch continues to walk with us. He tries to play it cool but I can tell he was just as worried about me as Peeta was. We walk in silence occasionally Peeta plants a kiss on my forehead and, whispers I love you in my ear.

We arrive back in the victor's village and, Haymitch turns to go off to his house. I catch his arm and give him a kiss on the cheek,

"Thank you for helping Peeta find me." I say giving his arm a squeeze. He blushes,

"It's alright sweetheart." he says quietly and then his slips into his house. Peeta squeezes my waist and we go into our home. I get myself a bowl of soup and one of Peeta's cheese buns and join him by the fire. Peeta just stares at me with his loving crystal blue eyes. I feel really bad; I went hunting to shut him out because of him bringing up babies. Then I caused him extra worry by falling out of that tree and not being able to get home. I think he is going to bring up children again, but tonight I will not fight we will have a reasonable discussion. I don't want to shut him out, not again. He stares at me somemore until I can't stand the tension,

"What? Why are you staring at me?" I ask, he quckly casts his eyes to the floor and sighs,

"Well I was thinking, we never actually did a toasting." He says looking back up at me now judging me reaction. I can see where this is going, but I don't mind, I think it'll be nice if we do a toasting.

"Effie forgot to plan it, her not being form District 12 and all." I say,

"Katniss,"

"Yes Peeta,"

"Do you want to do a toasting now?" He asks I nod. So we do, we use my cheese bun. It's quite fitting actually seen as it's my favourite type of bread. I feel closer to him than ever now. It's perfect.

I love Peeta so much; he would make an amazing father. Maybe children wouldn't be so bad. I would have maternal instincts that would stop me being too harsh or impatient. Sometimes I look at Johanna and I'm amazed at how much she's changed since she got pregnant, she's become calmer, more grown up, she's become the perfect mother. Surely if Johanna can do then I can. But, I'm still only 20. Well my mother had me when she was 25, if I say I want to have definitely made my mind up by the time I'm 25 it gives me 5 years to make up my mind. But I can't tell Peeta that, it would be giving him more false hope. At least I am a little clearer now on what I want. I think I will have kids I just need these 5 years to prepare myself for when my whole life will be changed.

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**I Hope you enjoyed that! I want to say thank you to some particular reviews:**

**Karen Montgomery: Your idea really inspired me so thanks so much for that!**

**Catherineellen: Your review made me smile so much, I couldn't stop, so thanks, it's really nice to know that you love the story! :)**

**Smart8881: Again your reviews make me smile!**

**Kaylz-Always-PK- I'm glad you liked the name Scarlett, it's one of my favourite names :)**

**Holio: Haaha you! You know I love your reviews :D**

**Thanks for R&R everyone, I will try to do all my homework so i can write and update on Sunday :)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hello mi amigos, I updated today instead of tomorrow :) I think you'll enoy this very much! So with out further ado read on :D!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.**

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**Chapter 25**

**Katniss' P.O.V.**

*******One Month Later*******

I am awoken by Effie's screams of delight, I really don't want to wake up, I have been really tired recently and really bad stomach aches have been keeping me up at night. I turn to look at Peeta, and he smiles,

"I think Oliver finally proposed to Effie."

"I think you're right!" I say with a giggle and lean in for a kiss. Suddenly, my stomach turns and I make a sprint for the bathroom. Peeta comes and holds my hair and, rubs my back as I vomit into the toilet.

"Are you okay honey?" Peeta asks helping me up.

"Yeah I'm fine, I don't know what came over me, probably just some bad food." I reply, grabbing my toothbrush.

"Will you be okay, if I go downstairs to make breakfast?" Peeta asks me.

"Yeah I'll be fine, I'll just shower and come down." I tell him. I step into the shower and relish the feeling of the hot water on my skin. I towel myself dry, get dressed and head downstairs.

"How are you feeling?" Peeta asks as he gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"Fine now, I don't know what came over me." I say sitting down, and biting into a blueberry pancake. One of my hands is in Peeta's as we eat. He always becomes a little more protective over me when I am ill.

"I'm going over to Effie's to day with Jo and Baby Scarlett." I say,

"That'll be nice; I'll be bakery, if you need me." He says giving my hand a squeeze. I get up give him a peck on the lips and go to knock for Jo and Scarlett. She comes to the door carrying an adorable baby Scarlett in her arms.

"Look Scar, it's Auntie Katniss." Joanna says as she motions for me to come in.

"I thought we could go over to see Effie today, Oliver told Peeta he was going to propose to her this morning so she'll want to see us." I explain to Johanna, she smiles and turns to Scarlett,

"What do you think Scar, should we visit Silly Auntie Effie?" Johanna asks Scarlett. Scarlett giggles,

"I'll take that as a yes then, Katniss can you hold her whilst I go get ready?" She asks me,

"Sure." I say extending my arms out. I cradle Scarlett close to me and rock her.

"Hey baby," I whisper, "Have you been good for your Mummy and Daddy? I hope you haven't caused too many sleepless nights cutie pie."

"I'm ready." Jo calls from the hall so I walk to meet her and, we head over to Effie's. We let ourselves in and find her in her living room surrounded by hundreds of wedding/bridal magazines.

"Effie!" I exclaim "He only proposed this morning!" Effie looks up from her magazine and laughs,

"Katniss, Oliver isn't the most discreet of people; I knew he had been planning to propose for months!" Effie is always in the know.

"I'm glad you came over girls I need to get your measurements." She says pulling out a tape measure.

"Why do you need our measurements?" I ask, she rolls her eyes at me,

"So I can have your bridesmaid dresses custom made, silly!"

"Oh how stupid of me for not realising!" I say sarcastically.

Jo and I stand with our arms out so she can measure us.

"Katniss I think you've been eating too many cheese buns." Effie says as she measures my waist.

"Effie, that's a bit rude." I say coldly, however I have been finding that some of my clothes fit a bit tighter.

"Sorry, did I say that out loud?" Effie's cheeks flush pink with embarrassment and I know she didn't mean it, so I let it slide. We spend the afternoon discussing all things weddings. Effie wants to get married next month, so there is a lot of work to do. Everything was going fine and then my stomach turned again and I bolted towards the toilet. Effie follows me to make sure I'm okay.

"Katniss, sweetie, are you okay?" Effie asks knocking on the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I don't know what came over me." I say emerging from behind the door. Effie puts a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you some water." she says as we descend the stairs.

"You okay Katniss?" Johanna asks as I pour myself a glass of water.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine don't worry about me. How about you? Scarlett is so big now!" I say trying to change the subject.

"Oh I'm fine, she's been an angel. I can't believe she is 2 months old already." Johanna says and she can't help but smile. 2 months, Oh my god.

"2 months?!" I squeak, she nods. Oh no. The vomiting, stomach cramps, being tired all the time. No. No. No.

"I'm really sorry I have to go." I say grabbing my coat, and practically sprinting to the door.

"Oh okay Katniss, feel better." Effie says patting my arm, Johanna gives me a quick hug and I sprint out the door to my house and straight up to the bathroom. I rummage around in the cupboard until I find it. It was left over from when Johanna thought she was pregnant. I walk into my bedroom to check the time. Okay good, its only 2:30 PM, which means I have an hour and half until Peeta comes home.

I walk back into the bathroom and study the box. Peeing on a stick sounds easy but, I don't want to do it wrong, I only have one of these and I am not risking being seen buying another one at the store. Okay, I peed, now all I have to do is wait. In 10 minutes I will know if my life is going to be changed forever. All the hours I spent debating whether or not to have children comes down to this. In the end I decided I was okay with having children but not for a few years. Well I guess nature and faulty birth control has other ideas! I thought I would be terrified, but strangely I'm not. I think I have finally come to terms with the idea of children. So what if I only 20, I have Effie and Johanna to help me and of course Grandpa Haymitch. Peeta has wanted this for years so he will obviously be ecstatic. I'm actually finding myself hoping the pregnancy test comes up positive not negative. I never thought that would happen. I, Katniss Mellark, want to be pregnant.

Okay, its time. I can't look but, I'll have to there is no one else to do it for me. Slowly, I walk over to where the test sits on the toilet seat. I take a peak and scream in delight. Two little pink lines. My hand instinctively goes to my stomach and a rub it slightly.

"Hey baby." I whisper and a happy tear trickles down my cheek. I have about 45 minutes to decide how I'm going to tell Peeta the amazing news. I've never been any good with words so I think as soon as he gets home I'm going to come right out and say it.

"Katniss, Honey, I'm home!" Peeta calls from the front door. Oh thank god, that was one of the most agonizing 45 minutes of my life.

"Can you come in here a minute?" I call from the living room. He comes in and sits on the sofa. I take one of his hands in mine and take a deep breath.

"Peeta I realised something when you were out today," I say quietly nerves overcoming me,

"I realised I was late on my period." I say waiting for him to catch up. He starts to grin and so I continue,

"So I came home early from Effie's and I took a pregnancy test." I say handing him the test. His hands are shaking slightly with anticipation; he takes the test and just stares at it for a while in disbelief.

"Peeta, we're going to have a baby, you're going to be a father." I say giving his hand a squeeze. He looks up at me,

"Are you sure you want this?" He asks, and I know the answer,

"Yes, I want this more than anything now." I say, his face breaks out into a grin and he picks me up and swirls me around. We both erupt in fits of joyful laughter. He places me back on the ground and hugs me closer to him.

"I can't believe we're going to have a baby." He says,

"Neither can I," I say, "But we are, we are going to be one big happy family." I say giving him a kiss on the lips and I truly mean every word.

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**Say it with me AAAWWWWWW :D So she is finally pregnant, yayayayay :) **

**Also I have started to write another story. It's my own verson of Mockingjay where Katniss is actually pregnant. SO please check it out if you think you'd enjoy it! It will be up within the hour! **

**Also Thank you for reading reviewing, favourting and following! I love writing and i will continue to do both stories as long as people are intressted! :)**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hello Lovelies, It has been too long since I updated! I am throughly prepared for you to hate me! School has been crazy, I've had english GCSE controlled assessments (which I got an A & A* in, so i guess the revison paid off)! I am truly sorry for not updating and I hope you all Forgive me! Also I just want to say the Jesse McCartney song Beautiful Soul, really helped me write this chapter! I recomend you listen to it! **

**Anyway, Read on :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.**

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**Chapter 26**

**Peeta's P.O.V.**

As I lay here, Katniss asleep in my arms, I can't keep the smile off my face. In just under 9 months I am going to be a father. I would have waited a lifetime for Katniss to be ready to have children. I had accepted it would take 5, 10 maybe even 15 years before she felt comfortable with the idea. Words cannot express how I feel about having a baby now. Sure we are young, but I know we can do this. We have Effie, Johanna, Haymitch, Thom and Oliver to help us. Bit I know that Katniss won't need help. She thinks she is horrible with children but she was so great with prim. I'm sure she will be an amazing mother. Speaking of mothers, this reminds me I need to talk to Katniss about her mother. She needs to get in touch. Mrs Everdeen has a right to know about her grandchild. I won't mention it to Katniss too soon; I don't want to burst her happy little bubble. I don't even know how we would get in contact with Mrs Everdeen. It's been nearly a year since we last spoke to her. She may have moved and got a new phone number. I shouldn't be worrying about this now, I should be thinking about my beautiful wife and my child she is carrying. I love her and the baby so much.

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"Katniss, honey, hurry up or we'll be late." I call to Katniss,

"I'll be down in a minute." She calls back. It takes her forever to decide what to wear. She isn't showing yet but she still feels a little self-conscious. We decided not to tell everyone until she is about 3 months along and will start showing. Then it would be hard to hide. Katniss descends the stairs and she looks radiant. She already has that pregnant woman glow. She smiles and takes my hand.

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It takes us about 10 minutes to walk to the hospital. It's our first appointment so Katniss is a nervous wreck. I walk up to the front desk and tell the nurse Katniss' name. he confirms our appointment and tells me to take a seat. I sit next to Katniss and place my hand on her knee to stop her bouncing.

"Sorry." she says quietly, "I'm just really nervous, what if something's wrong?"

"Hey look at me" I place my hand under her chin and gently lift her head up so her eyes meet mine. "Nothing will be wrong, you're young and healthy. Stop worrying please."

"You're right, I'm sorry, I love you." She says relaxing a little.

"I love you too." I say as I give her a light peck on the lips. We sit in the waiting room for 10 minutes before the nurse calls us. We follow her into our Dr's room. She tells us to take a seat the doctor should be along shortly, we sit hand in hand, Katniss bouncing her knee again. After what seems like an age, a middle aged Woman with greying hair and hazel eyes enters the room introducing herself as Dr Olsen, Katniss' Obstetrician. She asks Katniss to lie on the bed in the corner. She then instructs her to roll up her top to expose her stomach.

"This will be cold." She warns Katniss before applying the gel onto her stomach. Soon after that, Dr Olsen wheels a monitor into the view of both me and Katniss. She then places the wand onto Katniss' stomach and the screen crackles to life. I hear a faint thumping; I can hear my baby's heat beat.

"Look there Dr Olsen." Says pointing to the screen, both our eyes move to where she is pointing and sure enough I see a small shape, that is my child; My beautiful child.

"According to this you are about 2 and a half months along, does that match up to the time you believe the baby was conceived?" She asks Katniss blushes and nods.

"Okay, right well, everything looks healthy. I'll prescribe you some vitamins, and you'll need to book an appointment for a months' time." she says, smiling at us,

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask, would you like a sonogram picture?"

"Yes please." Katniss and I reply in unison.

"Okay, collect it at the desk with your vitamins, when you book your next appointment, I'll see you in a month, call me if you have any worries." she says sweetly before leaving the room. Katniss doesn't move, she just stares at the screen that still holds the frozen image of our child. A silent tear trickles down her cheek.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask as I wipe away the tears. She nods and squeezes my hand.

"They're happy tears, I'm just extremely happy." she replies leaning in to give me a kiss. We break away and I help her off the bed. She adjusts her T-shirt. And we walk hand in hand out of the surgery.

**Katniss' P.O.V.**

I can't believe I have just seen my baby. And I heard its tiny heartbeat. It was the most amazing sound in the world. I walk hand in hand with Peeta; we collect the Picture and Vitamins, Book another appointment and head home. I place the sonogram picture on the mantel piece. I don't care if Haymitch, Effie or Johanna pops round un-expectantly and sees it. I want everyone to know how happy I am. I sit on the sofa, and flip through channels whilst Peeta does something in the kitchen.

* * *

About an hour later Peeta walks in with a picnic basket tucked under his arm and a smile plastered across his face.

"What's with the basket?" I ask him,

"We are going on a picnic, grab your coat its cold." He says extending his arm to help me up.

"Um, okay, but can I ask why we are going on a picnic?" I ask as I put on my coat. He smiles,

"Because it is a nice afternoon and I felt like it." I laugh at his reasoning,

"Okay, if I get cold and start moaning, you'll have to hug me to keep me warm." I say stepping out into the brisk November air. He smiles and links his free hand with mine.

"Oh, I think I can manage that." He says as we walk out of the Victors Village.

"Where are we going for our Picnic?" I ask,

"You'll see." He says as he leads me away from town and to what was the seam. He leads me to where the fence is, and he helps me duck under. As soon as we hit the seam I knew where he was taking me. The meadow. He places the blanket down and unpacks the basket.

"Oh good, you packed cheese buns!" I exclaim. I have been craving cheese buns, along with other random things recently.

"Of course I packed cheese buns!" He laughs and hands me two. I eat them in less than a minute which makes me laugh more.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me, its little madam's fault!" I say gesturing towards my stomach.

"Still think it's a girl then?" He asks,

"I don't think, I know. Mothers instinct!" I say, giving him a playful shove.

* * *

Over the next few hours we talk, laugh, kiss and just generally enjoy being in each other's company. As its November the nights get darker earlier so, by 4 PM the sun had dipped below the horizon. We lie on the Picnic blanket holding hands, looking up at the sky.

"The moon is really bright tonight." I whisper.

"So are the stars." He whispers back. He turns to me and says,

"I love you more than there are stars in the sky." He whispers caressing my cheek. This makes me smile as I remember my father saying this to me when I was little.

"I love you as much as Effie loves her schedule." I whisper, and he doubles over in laughter.

"I can't believe I am lucky enough to call you my wife, and to have you carrying my child." He whispers placing his hands over my slight baby bump.

"I'm the lucky one." I reply, "After everything we've been through you still love me."

"I'll always love you." he whispers, I would tell him I love him too but words aren't enough. So I lean in and kiss him. It is tender and passionate and so many things that words cannot say.

* * *

We walk back to the Victors Village at around 5 PM. I was tired and in desperate need of some more cheese buns. When we nearer the Village I notice that our house has its lights on.

"Did you leave the lights on?" I ask Peeta,

"No, did you?" he replies. I shake my head. As we approach our front porch, Peeta turns to me and whispers,

"I'll go in first."

"Okay, be careful." I whisper and give him a quick kiss. He opens the door as quietly as he can and slowly steps inside. I wait outside for a second until I hear him shout it's okay to come in.

"It's only Haymitch." He tells me as I walk into the front room.

"What's this?" Haymitch questions us, holding up the sonogram picture I left on the mantel piece, "It can't be one of Jo's scan pictures because it's dated today!" I take a step back so, I'm next to Peeta, and he puts a protective arm around my waist.

"It's our picture." Peeta says confidently.

"So you two are going to have a baby?" he asks, and we nod.

"Haymitch why are you so angry? I thought you liked the idea of us having a baby!" I ask him,

"I'm not angry, just shocked sweetheart. A few months ago you were dead set on never having children." He says, in a softer voice. It's true I was. Then I came around and said I would have children but not for a few years. And the little madam happened; I hate calling her an accident but there's no denying the fact she wasn't planned.

"Haymitch we didn't exactly plan this." I say taking a seat next to him on the couch.

"You didn't?" he asks,

"No she was," I force myself to say it, "An accident." Haymitch smiles at this, his crude sense of humour coming through.

"Couldn't keep your hands off each other could you?" he says before letting out a loud laugh. I feel my cheeks becoming very hot and out of the corner of my eye I see Peeta suppressing a smirk. I playfully smack him on the arm and he mocks hurt.

"Wait," he pauses like he's thinking something trough, "You said she, it's a girl?" he asks,

"We don't know for sure it's too early to tell, but Katniss is certain it's a girl." Peeta says sitting down next to me on the sofa.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you." Haymitch admits quietly,

"its okay, Grandpa." I say with a smile.

"Hey! I am not old enough to be a Grandpa!" He exclaims,

"Yes you are, little madam will call you Grandpa whether you like it or not!" I snap back.

He frowns, but doesn't protest. Peeta gives him and I told you so look and his frown deepens. Peeta and I just laugh. We were expecting Haymitch to react this way. After a while he gets up to leave and I follow him to the door.

"Haymitch don't tell Effie or Jo, we'll tell them when we're ready." I say,

"I won't kiddo." He says and he pauses as he steps out the door.

"Katniss I just want you to know, I'm, I'm proud of you." He says quietly. I am shocked by his sudden display of affection. I fling my arms around him and give him a hug.

"Thank you." I say, he nods and makes his way back to his house.

* * *

I feel Peeta's arms snake around my waist.

"What was that all about?" he asks me, I guess he's referring to my hug with Haymitch.

"Haymitch told me he was proud of me." I say, a smile playing on my lips. Peeta chuckles,

"He'd never admit it, but he loves us like we are his kids." Peeta says, and I nod in agreement.

"Pretty soon I won't be able to do this." He says. I turn round to face him,

"Do what?" I ask. He smiles,

"Put my arms around you. You'll be too big, little madam will be in the way." He says placing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. I scowl.

"Hey! I won't be that bi-." He interrupts my rant with a kiss, which is unexpected but not un-welcome. I smile into the kiss and let the feeling of desire and passion take over me.

* * *

**Hola, I hope you liked that :) Thank you so much for reviewing, reading, favourting and Following, it means the world to me! **

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	27. Chapter 27

**Hello, let me start of by saying sorry for the lack of updates, school was very hectic last term and unfortunatly it won't get much better, but I promise I will try to find more time to write. Anyway, I will stop blubbering on now and let you read! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 27**

**Katniss P.O.V.**

*******1 Month Later*******

*******3 and a half Months Pregnant*******

I'm starting to show. It isn't like before, when because I knew, I could see the bulge, but now it is noticeable to everyone and I'm going to have to tell them. They all suspect something, Peeta has been walking round with the biggest grin on his face for the past month and I have been eating more and going into the woods less. Normally today I would be up early and into the woods, but Peeta doesn't like me going into the woods in winter especially now I'm with child. And it's just so nice to lie in. I snuggle up next to Peeta and relish in the warmth and how content I am with everything. It's a Sunday so he doesn't have to get up to go to the bakery. Although he wanted too, Christmas Eve is tomorrow and so there have been extra demands for cakes, cookies and special types of bread. We compromised and decided he would go in later.

Effie and Oliver decided to postpone their wedding until the New Year as heavy snowfall meant that Effie couldn't get all the things she wanted from the Capitol to District 12 in time. I was so relieved when they said they would postpone their wedding, because it gave me more time to tell Effie I was Pregnant and it gave her more time to order me a new bridesmaid dress that fits. Peeta and I are planning on telling everyone tonight. We are all getting together tonight for dinner, doing our own thing on Christmas Eve and then all spending Christmas Day together. Peeta and I were glad that we got to spend Christmas Eve by ourselves because it is a year since Peeta proposed to me. What an extraordinary year it has been. Peeta and I got married, Johanna got pregnant by Thom and they've ended up as a happy family with baby Scarlett, Effie and Oliver got engaged, Haymitch stayed sober and to top it all off I got pregnant. I am dreading telling everyone tonight, but at the same time I'm excited mainly for Peeta more than anything else. He has dreamed of this for so long and he is so happy now that is finally happening.

* * *

He's still asleep. I love watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, the way his hair falls onto his forehead, the way his lashes seem to go on forever, the way even in his sleep he can reposition himself so he has his arm protectively around my abdomen. I could go on forever listing all the things I love about Peeta Mellark.

"Katniss, stop staring at me." He says without opening his eyes. I laugh and kiss him.

"I was just admiring your exceptional good looks." I say brushing the hair of his forehead, he snorts.

"I do that to you all the time and you moan!" He laughs,

"That's because I don't have exceptional good looks!" I retort, and he shakes his head and takes his hands in mine.

"Katniss, you are the most beautiful girl, I have ever laid eyes on. I love everything about you, your rosy cheeks, soft mahogany hair, your scarred skin, your steely grey eyes, your scowl, your laugh, that you wear my t-shirts as pyjamas, the fact that you are carrying my child, and your ability to go through the most horrific things and still live life to the full…" He would have gone on for longer if I hadn't stopped him with a kiss. I have heard him tell me all of these things before, but I have never stopped to listen to them properly and actually appreciate what he was saying. I have never seen myself as pretty before, let alone beautiful but thanks to Peeta Mellark I'm starting too. I launch myself at him and we fall back on the pillows, never breaking our kiss.

* * *

"You have to tell her." Peeta tells me for the umpteenth time, while we tidy up the house ready for tonight. I don't say anything; I'm tired of fighting with him over this.

"She has a right to know Katniss," He goes on, even though he knows I won't respond, "Come on Katniss, it is her Grandchild."

"That's enough!" I finally snap, "She lost all right to know about mine, our lives when she waltzed in here last year, Gale in tow, expecting us to get back together. Peeta she doesn't care about me, she doesn't care about us. She stopped caring a long time ago. She doesn't deserve to know, let alone love her grandchild. So can you please just drop it now, please?" I look over at him; he sighs and runs his hands through his hair, like he always does when he is stressed. Finally he looks up at me and pulls me in for a hug,

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pressurized you." he says,

"I'm sorry I snapped." I reply and hug him tighter.

"I don't like fighting with you." He says softly,

"I don't like fighting either, Peeta lets not fight anymore." I say and chuckles softly,

"We can try, but I don't think it'll last very long," He says with a smile, "It's what you and I do Katniss, we bicker then make up."

"True, very true." I say and pull away so I can look at him properly, "Now come on we only have an hour before I told everyone to come over." I smack him playfully on the arm and send him on his way to the kitchen. I finish tidying the house and quickly change into something a little dressier. I then force Peeta to change despite his many protests and wait for the doorbell to ring.

* * *

Effie, Oliver and Haymitch arrive first. Haymitch gives me a warm hug and a knowing smile and Effie ever oblivious just chats about her wedding plans. Soon after that I can hear Jo shouting at Thom from outside. Those two are shouting at each other, but they also really love each other so it balances out. We all sit down to eat while baby Scarlett naps in the front room. Peeta cooked a lovely meal, lamb stew (My favourite); Apple pie with ice cream and more importantly cheese buns, I have been craving them like crazy! We all have a good laugh at dinner mainly at my own expense but I didn't complain, it's nice to be in such a happy atmosphere.

* * *

After we have all finished eating we retire to the living room. Effie bounces Scarlett on her knee, Haymitch starts to crack jokes and Jo tells me what she bought Scarlett for Christmas. I think everyone has bought Scarlett, clothes I mean what else can you buy a 3 month old baby? The evening passes on quickly and when it is drawing to a close I look over to Peeta and he gives me a slight nod. We both get up and make a move to the centre of the room. He takes my hand in his and gives it a squeeze. Peeta clears his throat. Everyone turns to look at us and I begin to speak,

"Peeta and I have an announcement to make; we didn't just invite you all over to celebrate the holidays."

"You didn't?" Effie questions, "Is everything okay?" I look over at Peeta and smile,

"Everything is fine Effie; the reason we called you all over here is to, to tell you, I'm pregnant." I say, bracing myself for everyone's reactions. Haymitch smiles, but of course he already knew the news. Effie immediately jumped to her feet and run over to give us a hug. Jo just laughs,

"Do you know what you're letting yourself in for?" She asks me, "It's a lot of hard work, trust me!"

"We know, but I want this, I need someone in my life to love and look after, other than Peeta!" I giggle and everyone joins in because it is a well-known fact that I have to help Peeta with a lot of things, unfortunately his talents don't extend far past baking.

"Hey!" He moans, but smiles and pulls me closer anyway. We spend the rest of the evening receiving congratulations and being asked questions. I answer all of them with a genuine smile and I am quite thankful to be able to talk to Jo about this as she has actual been through it. I'm slightly disappointed when they all have to leave it has been such a good night but I find comfort in the thought that I will soon be snuggled up next to Peeta in bed.

* * *

Once everyone has left Peeta heads up to bed and I quickly finish tiding up. I'm just about to go upstairs when I hear a faint knocking at the door. I presume it'll be Johanna or Effie, they probably forgot something. I'm surprised to find Hazel Hawthorne, at my door.

"Look, Katniss I know it's late but this is important."

"Is everything alright? Is someone ill, is it Posy is she ill?" I ask,

"No, no the kids are all right, well 3 of them are." Her voice becomes bitter but I don't think it's directed at me.

"Look Katniss, I just thought you should know, Gale turned up at my doorstep today. He said he was coming home for the holidays."

"Oh, I um…" I can't get out any words.

"I know what happened this time last year, he told me and it was completely out of line. But I also know he still isn't over you. And if he knew that you were Pregnant it would just push him over the edge." She says, and I'm lost for words, how did she know?

"How do you know?" I ask in a hushed whisper.

"Katniss, I've know you since you were 11, you think I wouldn't notice something like that?" She says.

"Please don't tell anyone!" I plead, and she nods her head. "And thank you for the warning."

"Look Katniss, be careful, Gale is my son and I love him but you and me both know he has a temper on him, if he finds out I think he'll end up doing something he'll regret." she says and I can't help but agree with her.

"Look I have to get back now, but just remember what I said okay?" She says I give her a quick hug and then she disappears into the snow that has just begun to fall.

I shut the door and slide down it. I know better than anyone that no good can come from Gale losing his temper and now I fear that what Hazel said could become true. If he found out about the pregnancy he would fall over the edge. When Gale loses his temper he gets too blinded by rage to think rationally and that's when he starts to do things that are dangerous. I wish I knew what Gale was capable of; it would make this situation much less terrifying. What could Gale possibly do this time?

* * *

**Ooohhh, little cliffy! Christmas is not looking good for the Mellarks this year *Evil Laugh* I will try to write more over the final week of my holiday inbetween revising and homework :(**  
**I loaf you all for reading/reviewing/favouriting & following! Please do leave a review on your way out! They brighten my world and make me happy :) xox**


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